Cursed Egg
by TinySprite
Summary: Wraith has a plan and it involves Nosedive and a certain cursed spring! slight Ranma12 xover. Pairings:?
1. Chapter 1

TinySprite: Yo! This is my first MD fic, so excuse the OOCness!

**Disclaimer:** If I owned the Mighty Ducks, do you really think I would be writing fanfiction about them?

--

Chameleon sighed quietly to himself. Ah, the good old days back home. He'd been popular, about to get a cute girlfriend, and generally well-liked by nearly everyone. Then, Lord Dragaunus discovered a way to escape their prison in Limbo and life went to SHIT.

Every available young saurian of age (and some not) was recruited for the invasion force. Females became either healers or mechanics while males of course became soldiers and everything else. Even then life hadn't been so bad. At least his fellow soldiers knew how to appreciate a good joke and their constantly giving him a swirly had also been a joke, **not** an attempt to shut him up, thank you very much.

Right now, he was in his body builder form, trudging through some ash-forsaken swamp in the middle of nowhere with a struggling avian over his heavily muscled shoulder and following a crazed Wraith who had most likely sniffed a few too many of his own toxic potions, considering this stupid plan.

Oh well, at least he wasn't on bathroom cleanup duty. It was Siege's turn for both that and to cook the meals for the week….May the great deities protect them all.

Now, back to daydreaming, uh, remembering, yes, remembering…….

* * *

Wildwing stared at the clear blue sky sadly.

They'd finally gotten Canard back in a deal with Dragaunus. A duck for a duck, that simple. At first he'd considered himself for the deal but Nosedive somehow managed to talk him out of it. They all debated on what to do, Duke even offering to go himself, using his background as Puckworld's most successful cat thief as his argument.

Eventually they decided to send Duke, as he had the best chances for escape while the others created a diversion. It all should have gone perfectly, and it had, at least until Dragaunus sprang a trap of his own.

They'd gotten back to the Migrator with both Canard (unconscious) and Duke only to find that Nosedive, who'd been told to stay there and watch the vehicle, was gone. Chameleon must have had something to do with it since there was no apparent signs of a struggle and no one could remember seeing the shape sifter in the battle.

All any of them could do now was wait and hope for the best. Wildwing looked down at his hands and blinked back tears. Some leader he was turning out to be.

--

Currently aforementioned teenager did **not **like how things were going. Chameleon had assumed his brother's form to trick him into opening the hatch to the Migrator before knocking Nosedive over the head with the hilt of a saurian blaster.

When Dive had come to, it was only to find that he was over said saurian's shoulder, being jostled around like a bag of potatoes. Nosedive had twisted in Chameleon's grip, kicking his legs and trying to hit the broad green shoulder with his elbows instead of his fists because his wrists were tied together. All it had achieved was a tighter rope around his wrists and for his legs to be tied up at the knees **and** ankles. Strangely, Wraith didn't allow Chameleon to hurt him at all, though it was easy to see that the green saurian wanted to give the avian a good smack.

From what he could see, they were either in a forest or a swamp somewhere. Twisting to get a better look, Nosedive saw a sign on the side of the…..path….that they were on. That was great, but the sign was in Chinese, which to Dive was bad, because he really didn't know any of it. Although, he had learned just enough Chinese from Thrash and Mookie's manga books to pick out the words "Accursed Springs" and "Beware!" What did that mean?!

Dive grunted as Chameleon dropped him hard onto the ground. The green body builder quickly slipped another rope around Nosedive's wrists, tying off only one end there while the other end was tied securely around a pole. With that done he walked off, leaving the avian alone.

Glaring after him, Nosedive saw that the pole had a little plaque on it. Thankfully, the pole was short enough that he didn't have to strain his neck to look at the plaque and its inscription. Once again, all he could make out was "spring" but another one looked familiar. It was either "Pig" or "Panda", hard to tell which. Nosedive tugged on the rope but it was as secure as anything.

The sound of a splash caught his attention. Turning around, he saw Wraith standing next to a spring with a satisfied smirk. It was then that the teen saw that he was actually next to a spring himself. In fact, this place seemed to be an entire **field** of springs.

The spring next to Wraith seemed different somehow, as if the sorcerer's presence had altered it in some way. The splash soon turned out to be a dog that had been tossed into that spring. Chameleon dragged it out with a net and held it up for Wraith's inspection.

The ancient saurian picked up a bucket of something and poured it on the dog. It yelped as steaming hot water rushed over it along with Chameleon when some scorched his fingers. The little alien dropped the pooch to nurse his hurting digits. The mutt wasted no time hauling tail out of there.

Now Nosedive was definitely confused. Why did Wraith throw the dog into the spring only to then give it a hot bath? Wraith berated his companion for his incompetence,

"You idiot! Why did you let go of the dog?! Arg!! You're completely useless!! Go and get that dog NOW!!"

Chameleon whined, "Ahh. It's just a dog, Wraith. We can always get you another one. "

The spell castor held his staff threateningly, "I said now Chameleon. Or would you like to be part of my next experiment?"

Very rarely outside of battle had Chameleon moved so fast.

--

Wraith took a deep, calming breath. Today was one of the greatest days of his life. His plan would work and Lord Dragaunus would finally see how helpful the dark powers of their ancestors were, and their importance. This plan would work. It **had** to.

All that was needed he had with him: a crystal containing a very special soul, two potions made from extremely specific herbs under excruciating conditions, another crystal (empty) and finally a stick of charcoal made from sacred wood of a tree from a temple forest that had existed on the ancient and lost homeland of the saurians.

The only snag in his plan was that he didn't have a young avian female virgin host…..yet. Carefully pulling a third crystal from his bag, Wraith walked over to the captive and pressed it into his hands, making the boy hold it tightly. After barely a moment the crystal stayed perfectly clear and seemed to glow with a pure inner light. Feeling highly pleased with himself, Wraith took it back and faced the avian.

"So you really are a virgin. "

Nosedive turned bright red and glared at him.

"And so what if I am?! It's got nothing to do with you!! Now let me go!!"

Wraith couldn't help but laugh at this. It was just too funny! Nosedive began to get uncomfortable. Maybe Wraith was crazier than he'd thought?

"What's so funny?"

Wraith took another breath,

"You see, duck, your being untainted has everything to do with me. In fact, it's the reason I had Chameleon snatch you."

Dive gulped and scooted back from him. Something was telling him that he wasn't going to enjoy where this was going.

"What do you mean?"

Smirking, Wraith looked down at him

"Simple. You're going to become pregnant."

--

Chameleon came back with the dog in tow only to find Wraith laughing manically and the avian brat staring off into nothing.

'Uh, did I miss something?'

After that little thought, the small saurian tied the dog to another pole, careful to keep it from the spring water. That done, he went to the spell castor.

Wraith noticed him almost immediately. The teen just kept staring.

"Ah, you're finally back Chameleon. Now the ceremony can be completed. Go to the site of it and make sure that all is ready. I can take care of everything here. Oh and take the dog with you. "

Without asking, he did as he was told, using his teleporter to get to the warehouse Wraith claimed was built on sacred ground.

'I don't think I'll every get used to Wraith's constant mood swings.'

Turning to the captive, Wraith used his magic to strip off the boy's body armor. That got his attention.

"What are you doing?! Stop it!"

Nosedive turned and twisted in an attempt to keep his armor. Wraith huffed slightly, trying not to laugh again. It really was quite funny when people fought against magic though they could do absolutely nothing.

Soon enough all of Nosedive's armor was gone, chest plate, shoulder pads, knee pads, even his gloves and boots! Still smirking, Wraith used magic to pick up the boy and simply drop him into the spring that the dog had been in.

Nosedive jerked as he hit the water and went under. At least the ropes were off. He felt strange all over, like a slight tingling sensation mixed with faint pins and needles. Though he didn't want to, Nosedive swam to the surface. Curse the need to breathe!!

Wraith was waiting for him. With a strange smile he wrapped Nosedive in magic again, pulling his captive out of the water and onto the shore. As soon as Dive's bare feet touched the ground, the magic pulled his arms over his head and held his feet apart.

Wraith walked towards him with a knife in one hand. Nosedive started to panic. Wraith wasn't going to really kill him now…was he?

Stopping in front of the boy, the saurian made a swift and precise slicing motion down his chest. Nosedive closed his eyes tight and waited for the pain, but none came. Instead a cool breeze blew across his now exposed chest causing him to shudder slightly. That was strange, usually he wasn't so sensitive to temperature. It had to be because he was still wet from being dunked. Yeah, that was it.

Nosedive felt Wraith opening his cut shirt and heard him chuckle softly. The boy kept his eyes shut tight.

"What's wrong? Open your eyes and look at yourself. Your body really isn't half-bad."

'What's he talking about?'

Dive cautiously opened one eye then the other, staring at his chest in shock. This had to be a bad dream, it just had to!! He was going to wake up any minute now and forget he ever dreamed this.

"Wraith, what happened?!"

His eyes were wide now, staring down at a chest that had a pair of soft looking breasts instead of being flat like it should be. Some part of his mind noted that his voice sounded higher and softer and that a certain area below his waist felt strangely empty. The saurian smiled cruelly.

"What happened is that you are now a girl. This place is known as the 'Training Grounds of Accursed Springs' and I simply put you in the 'Spring of Drowned Girl'. Whoever falls into it is cursed to take on the form of a girl. Typically you could turn back into a boy when you come into contact with hot water only to revert to a girl if cold water touches you. However thanks to my skills as a sorcerer, the curse is now permanent!"

To prove his point, Wraith picked up a kettle of hot water and splashed the avian with it. She screamed at how hot it was. Her body stayed female; it never even flickered to being male again.

She didn't see Wraith reach out, not until he grabbed one of her new breasts and pinched it. **That **tore a sharp yelp out of the teen's throat as she jerked back and stared at him like he'd gone insane (if not already). The saurian simply laughed at her.

"Now you will help me achieve my life long dream!"

Swallowing her fear, Nosedive protested,

"Oh yeah? Who said that I would help you anyway?! I don't want anything to do with you!!"

Wraith stared at her before chuckling again,

"It is so amusing how you're acting like you have a choice in the matter."

With out warning he grabbed a fistful of her hair and activated his own teleporter. Normally he'd use magic, but it was a very long trip and besides, he needed to conserve all he could for the ceremony.

--

Dragaunus was not happy and when he wasn't happy then his minions were usually absolutely miserable. Yet another plan foiled by the Ducks, costing him the old team leader. To top it off, it had been hours since he'd last seen Wraith or Chameleon.

Normally he'd be happy about that, but now it set him on edge. Wraith was definitely up to something and he wanted to know what.

The tracking devices he'd hidden in the teleporters showed them going first to China and now a warehouse in the Midwest, near the Texas-New Mexico border. This had gone on long enough.

Dragaunus grabbed his own teleporter and set the coordinates. It was time to find out what in the Blazes was going on.

--

Chameleon sneezed twice in a row. Glaring at the dust responsible for it, he quickly glanced around the room to make sure it was how Wraith wanted it.

Creepy, dusty interior, check.

Strange symbols everywhere, check.

Enough candles to put a bonfire to shame, check.

All candles lit,…..check.

And finally, weird table-like alter in the middle of it all, double check.

After another bout of sneezing, Chameleon escaped to the windy outdoors in hopes to escape the dust. It wasn't as warm as it was in the warehouse, but it also didn't mess with his sinuses as much.

The sound of a teleportation came from his right, making him look over. It was Wraith and the duck. The sorcerer went straight to the warehouse, magically dragging the avian with him. Chameleon sighed and went back inside. He never got a break.

The dog whimpered when it was passed by, hiding under the old cart that Chameleon had tied its rope leash to.

Ignoring it, the green alien raised an eyebrow at the duck's appearance. Who knew that brat would actually make a somewhat decent girl?

"Chameleon, strip her down and secure her to the alter while I make sure of the procedures."

Wraith never even looked at him, face buried in some giant book that had obviously seen better centuries and pulling things out of his bag with mutters. The avian tried to scoot away from both of them while trying to hold her shirt shut.

Smirking, Chameleon went back to his body builder form and grabbed her ankles. Nosedive shrieked and pried frantically at his fingers in a bid for freedom. Still smirking, Chameleon increased his size so he could effortlessly hold both of her ankles in one hand and lifted her up so that the duck-girl dangled upside down from his fist.

It shut her up at least. Using his other hand, he peeled Dive's shirt off and didn't bother to hide the fact that he was staring. The avian turned red (from blood rushing to her head, embarrassment, or both) and crossed her slender arms over her chest. Chameleon faked a look of disappointment, then slid a finger under Dive's belt, snapped it, and simply tore the pants off. That got another scream and an attempt to curl up into a ball.

Chameleon found himself enjoying this more than he thought he would. Grabbing the boxers (solid green surprisingly, probably an old pair of Wildwing's) she was wearing , he tore them off as well, fully enjoying her scream and attempts at modesty and keeping what remained of her dignity.

Laughing out loud, he placed her onto the alter and pinned her down with a massive elbow while chaining Nosedive's wrists and ankles to it. The shackles were very snug against her limbs and the chains were small enough that Nosedive was spread eagle style on the alter.

Standing back to admire his handiwork, Chameleon let his eyes drift over her and didn't bother to hide it either. Nosedive turned a brighter shade of red and looked away, clenching her eyes shut tight. Having someone staring at her while she was completely naked was one of the worst humiliations Dive had ever had and … it made her feel funny _there_, between her legs where her manhood had once been. Nosedive definitely didn't like this.

None of the three of them noticed it when Dragaunus slipped in and hide behind a stack of crates. He frowned at the sight he saw. What the Hell was this? It looked like some scene out of a cheap porn flick, a young girl offered against her will to the sexual desires of a well-endowed monster while a mage kept watch to make sure everything went well (for the monster). Who was that girl anyway? She looked a little bit familiar…… Maybe a relation of one of the current ducks or something like it.

Wraith finished setting everything up. Dusting his hands off and nodding to himself, he grabbed the two potions and the charcoal stick and stepped up to the altar. Waving Chameleon over, Wraith handed him one bottle and placed the other aside.

"Get her to drink this while I place the needed symbols on her body. And be _gentle_ about it, Chameleon."

The other saurian gave an affirmative grunt and carefully applied pressure to the joints of the avian's jaw. As soon as she (reluctantly) opened up, he started pouring small amounts of it down her throat, making sure she drank every last drop.

While he was doing that, Wraith began carefully, oh so carefully, drawing the specific symbols needed for the spell to work. He softly muttered the needed incantations under his breath, sounding almost like some kind of monk. Nosedive whimpered timidly to herself. The liquid tasted nasty and made her body feel uncomfortably warm and relaxed. The charcoal stick shifted over much of her body, starting from her feet and working its way up.

Chameleon put the bottle aside once it was empty and started to reach for the second one, stopping when Wraith shook his head 'No'. He didn't even miss a beat of his weird chanting. With a shrug, Chameleon stepped back to watch him, not once going back to his normal form.

That's when the large, taloned hand pinched the special spot on his spine. That spot always made him return to regular Chameleon. He turned around only to see his boss glaring down at him with his quickly becoming famous 'Tell me what the Hell is going on or **ELSE**' glare.

"Wraith has this strange idea in his head that he can reincarnate a banished god. So he got all the needed materials except he couldn't get a virgin female avian before we had to leave Puckworld.

So he researched for weeks and found these springs in China that would cause you to change forms if you fall into them. Wraith gets it into his head to use Wildwing's kid brother instead since he overheard that thief guy teasing the brat about still being a virgin and one of the springs could turn a person, or duck, into a young girl.

And when we were doing that trade deal with the ducks, Wraith had me snatch the brat and then we went to the hot springs and Wraith turned him into a girl permanently by altering the curse of that one spring so that whoever fell in it wouldn't ever be able to get their natural form back and now here we are doing the ceremony."

By the time Chameleon finished, his normally green face was rapidly turning purple and he was seeing spots at the corners of his eyes. Dragaunus lifted an eyebrow, first at his smallest minion then to his sorcerer. Wraith only gave a small nod, most of his concentration on getting an intricate swirl pattern just right. Currently, Nosedive's legs and a large part of her torso seemed to have a strange new sort of exotic tattoo consisting of swirls, dashes, waves and the occasional shape.

Roughly an hour later, Wraith was finished. Now it covered her whole body from the bottom of her feet to the top of her head. Then he carefully picked up a smooth crystal from the small table he'd made Chameleon push next to him five minutes ago. All three saurians found themselves admiring it. The crystal was a deep, deep shade of reddish-purple with a perfect black streak in its center and was formed like an extremely slender oval. With its completely smooth shape, it almost resembled some form of egg.

It seemed to pulse softly with its own potential power, quivering just the tiniest bit at the chance to be unleashed. Dragaunus found himself wondering why Wraith had never come forward with this plan before. After all, it was absolutely brilliant once he actually pondered on all the possibilities of having an actual god as an ally or…even as a minion. And if he remembered his history correctly, most of the banished saurian gods had great powers and weapons of nearly limitless strength.

A thought suddenly entered his mind. How was Wraith going to transfer that power from the crystal to the girl? His unspoken question was answered when the sorcerer carefully reached between the girl's thighs and started to even more carefully push the crystal inside of her. Dragaunus watched with interest while Chameleon seemed to actually be mistaking this for a cheap porn flick.

--

Nosedive moaned softly. She felt so strange. Her body was too warm, she was starting to get dizzy and her stomach had started cramping up like it was debating whether or not to make her throw up. At least Wraith had stopped chanting. It had been making her tired but she somehow just couldn't get to sleep.

Then something touched her in her most private of places and began to enter. Dive whimpered at the intrusion, trying to pull away except the chains held her down too tightly. It hurt but not badly. She felt strangely slick there, like her body had been preparing for this.

Whatever it was she wanted it out of her body. Nosedive started attempting to push it out of herself except she couldn't feel her stomach area any more. In fact, she couldn't feel her legs either or her arms. What was going on?

Once the thing was fully in her body, the other potion was poured down her unresisting throat. Unlike the other one, this one tasted sweet and seemed to give her back some clarity. At least enough for her to notice that now there were three saurians there instead of just two. Just as she was about to focus in on the third one, her lower stomach exploded into wave after wave of terrible, burning heat.

She didn't notice when Wraith placed a cord with a crystal charm around her neck. She barely noticed anything as the darkness of unconsciousness claimed her.

--

Wraith couldn't help but smile. His dream was finally coming to fruition.

"Wraith, I'd like a word with you."

The sorcerer looked up at him and nodded slightly, walking to a corner where they could have some privacy yet the girl was still in sight.

"Explain to me exactly what was in that crystal and how this works."

Wraith nodded again and started to explain,

"That crystal held the spirit of a banished saurian god so ancient that its name is lost to time. It has been passed down in my family for generations along with the spell to unleash it.

The only problem is that while eerily simple, the ceremony is damnably specific. As the god was banished by _avian_ mages eons ago an avian female had to be the carrier for it to be reborn. She also had to be a virgin, never touched sexually by a male and, oddly, below her twenties.

One must administer two potions to her. The first before the insertion of the crystal and the second after. While giving her the first potion, she must be completely covered in especially specific ancient symbols with charcoal made from a sacred tree of our ancient homeland.

There are dozens of incantations to be said while doing this. Then when the crystal is finally inserted, you must immediately give the girl the second potion and place a special crystal around her neck to catch any of the god's power that may escape while it is creating itself a tiny new body inside her womb.

She must always wear that crystal though it isn't specified why. After all of this she must be allowed to rest and recover. It will mimic a normal pregnancy from there, six months in the womb then three months out of it to incubate. By the way don't ask what was in the potions. I'll only tell you that do to their circumstances alone, it took nearly three years for each one."

Dragaunus nodded quietly,

"Is there any chance of repeating this ceremony?"

Wraith shrugged,

"Perhaps. If another crystal was found and another girl, then yes most likely."

Dragaunus smirked evilly.

"And in the unlikely event of a miscarriage, what would happen?"

Wraith just stared at him.

"Milord, the second potion grants the unborn god some of its powers back. Just enough to protect itself against something like that. The only way there could be a miscarriage was if some one killed the girl."

Dragaunus broke out into laughter. Oh, how he was starting to love this plan!

--

TinySprite: Alright y'all, I'll leave it here for ya to decide what to do with. Love it or hate it, that's your choice. If I get at least five reviews, I'll update! Hey I'll probably update anyway!

Nosedive:…..

Wildwing: (turns to authoress slowly, serial murderer slowly) What is this about?! (points at story)

TinySprite: Uh, oh. Gotta fly! (Tries to fly away with her little wings…only to get caught by Duke in a jar)

Tiny: OH GOD NOT THE JAR!!


	2. Chapter 2

TinySprite: I'm back! (glares at Duke) You could at least have put some air holes in the lid!!

Duke: Hey, it was either that or you face Wildwing with his temper at Max Overload.

TinySprite….You just want some lovin from one of the girls don't you...

Duke: (Smile)

Tiny: Ugh, why do I even bother?

Mallory: Cause you can't grow up.

Tiny: …

Tiny :…( blink)…I actually got reviews?... (breaks down in happy tears)

**Disclaimer:** See first chapter.

Tiny: Last bit of my opinion, as much as I love their accents and speech, it's just too hard for me to type it so don't expect much of Tanya and Duke sounding like they do in the series. Oh, by the by, the ducks have been on Earth for only a few months. It makes sense later, trust me.

--

Tanya never liked to not be busy. The time she spent lazing about could have been the time she made some magnificent discovery that would aid in the fight against Dragaunus and their random assortment of other foes that they'd managed to acquire.

Which is why she was in the Control Room (A/N: That is where Drake 1 is right? Haven't seen the series in _forever_) installing new software into Drake 1 to boost its performance levels. Consequently, she was also the one to receive the worst damage to her eardrums when its alarm went off.

'Maybe it is too loud?' she wondered while trying to figure out why no one seemed to be talking. Their beaks moved, but no sound came out. Strange, wasn't it?

After about ten minutes of makeshift sign language, the rest of the team finally got fed up and started writing their responses and questions on a notepad. In the end, Grin did most of the writing as it turned out he had the neatest speed writing.

Of course, that was after he pulled Mallory away from the control panel and took the giant hammer away from her.

"Just because something annoys your aura does not mean it deserves to be destroyed completely." were his cryptic words. Then he added, as Tanya got the message and shut the alarm off,

"Even though it **is **highly annoying."

Looking at the paper, the scientist read the first question to herself then looked at the mega-computer.

"Well, it seems that the saurians are being very active. First there were two teleportation signals in China and then one went to some where near the Texas-New Mexico border followed by the second one."

She read the next question,

"I don't know what's going on. According to Drake 1 these happened half an hour ago."

Duke nudged Grin's side,

"Hey, ask her what this alarm was about then."

The gentle giant nodded and wrote it down, then handed the pad to Tanya to read. She shrugged.

"Apparently, there was a third teleportation signal to the second location. That's what Drake 1's scanners just picked up and alerted us to. It could be Nosedive's kidnappers."

That was all Wildwing needed to hear. Turning on his heel, he headed straight for the Aerowing.

"Grin! You stay with Tanya and keep an eye on things here. Duke, Mallory! Both of you are with me! Have Tanya send us the coordinates, Grin!"

Mallory said something to Grin before running after Duke and Wildwing. Grin couldn't help a little smirk as he wrote down what Mallory told him.

Tanya read it out loud,

"'Do you really have to shout it all out loud?' Huh? I'm not shouting!…Am I?"

--

Chameleon undid the girl's bonds and wrapped her up in a large sheet of cloth at Wraith's prompting. The girl only groaned weakly before going limp again. She was seriously out of it.

Wraith looked at his master.

"I've already had a room set up for the girl back on the Raptor. It's close to my room so that I may keep an eye on her."

Dragaunus nodded his consent grudgingly. Though he was enjoying the thought of a God as an ally, it couldn't kill his minions to tell him things like this earlier. (A/N:….We all know the truth!)

--

Duke looked out the Aero wing's window and whistled.

"You sure we got the right place? There's nothing out here except for a few abandoned warehouses and miles of desert."

Wildwing checked the panels again.

"These are the coordinates that Tanya sent us straight from Drake 1. They have to be correct."

Mallory just gazed out the window, silently agreeing with Duke.

They landed about thirty yards away and high-tailed it to the warehouse. They noticed the whimpering pooch, but took no heed of it. Glancing inside told them all they needed to know.

--

Dragaunus was just about to go back to the Raptor when a well-aimed puck knocked his teleporter away. Turning with a snarl, he saw a flash of red hair as Mallory dodged behind some old crates.

"It's the ducks!"

With that said, he launched himself into battle, eager to make up for his earlier humiliation. Wraith merely shook his head.

"Chameleon, get the brat out of here!"

The body-builder shaped alien shouted back,

"I'm on it!"

"Oh no, you're not!"

Duke rushed at Chameleon from his side, a blind spot since he had a large covered bundle over his shoulder. The green alien jumped back and hit the button on his teleporter. The ex-thief was barely able to grab onto the end of Chameleon's tail before they both vanished in sparkling green light.

"Duke!"

Mallory yelled out as she shot several pucks at Wraith and Dragaunus. The sorcerer decided that he'd had enough of this and simply used his magic to leave. This left Dragaunus to face to ducks alone and one of them was severely pissed.(A/N: Guess who and get a prize!)

Wraith would pay for this! Using his strength, Dragaunus grabbed a crate full of something heavy and hurled it at the ducks. He used the distraction to make his getaway.

Mallory slowly pushed herself up and hobbled over to Wildwing. Judging from the pain in her ankle, she'd probably twisted it dodging the crate. He looked up at her.

"We were so close! And we failed!"

Mallory offered him a wry smile as she helped him up.

"There's always going to be a next time. Duke's with them now, too. If anything, he can at least help us locate the Raptor."

Together they walked back to the Aero wing. The redhead took the dog with her, thinking that it would be too cruel to simply leave it here in the middle of nowhere.

In the silence, Mallory quietly hoped that Duke would be alright. Not that she cared for him or anything…it would just be too quiet without him in the Pond and her nerves were already stressed from the kid's kidnapping.

--

Tiny: Uh, sorry but I gotta leave it at here. My plot bunny decided it no longer wanted to live and jumped off a really high cliff screaming, "I regret nothing except the lack of carrots!" …I didn't even know they ate carrots…

Grin: You do realize you are generating seriously bad karma?

Tiny: I've survived this long haven't I?

Mallory: That's coming from someone no bigger than a soda can by the way.

Tiny: Shush you or I'll kill off you-know-who!

Mallory:….( runs off and tightly hugs a suspiciously familiar-looking plushie)

Tiny: Anyway, excuse the OOCness. I haven't been able to watch the series in almost three years. I'll try to get y'all a longer chapter soon! Remember, reviews are a girl's best friend!


	3. Chapter 3

TinySprite:…hi…beware the reviewers for they are powerful and scary….O.O

Duke: You're only saying that because a reviewer threatened to get the you-know-who's after you!

Tiny: (turns red and demonic looking) I'm only uneasy because everyone seems to think that the dust off our wings grants the ability to fly! That's Tinkerbell, people! By the way that was fake! In two scenes on Peter Pan you can clearly see the cords during their "flights"! (continues ranting)

Grin: I'm sensing some aggressive vibes.

Mallory: Ya think?!

Nosedive:...I guess I'll do the disclaimer….

**Disclaimer: **TinySprite owns nothing of the Mighty Ducks at all, THANK YOU GOD!

Tiny: (swerving around) I HEARD THAT!!!!!!!!

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Duke grunted as he stumbled into a side hall, dragging the covered bundle with him.

"Geez Kid, never thought I'd say this but would it kill ya to lose a few pounds?"

The bundle twitched just the slightest, as if in response to his comment. The ex-thief sighed as he hid behind one of the many doors, hauling his unconscious teammate with him. It looked like some sort of storage room if the brooms and spare parts were anything to go by. With a grateful sigh, Duke put the teenager down fully onto the floor to try his communicator.

Duke smirked as he remembered how they got here. When Chameleon teleported back into the Raptor, he'd popped up right in front of a startled Siege. Why the living wrecking ball was wearing an extremely lacy and fluffy apron was a question best left unanswered.

Back to the story. The first thing Siege had seen was Duke, so naturally he struck out with a beefy fist in hopes of crushing said duck's skull. Duke, however, had dunked so the blow meant for him had instead caught Chameleon right in his throat.

Naturally, Chameleon did the only thing he could. He'd dropped the teen and stumbled back holding onto his neck, gagging and hacking horribly. Using the distraction, Duke had made a swipe at Siege with his saber. This caused the orange tyrant to stumble back, tripping over the end of his apron and falling back right on his back. It was interesting to note that apparently Siege was similar to a turtle in that he couldn't get up without immediate help. **That **little tidbit was definitely going to be used in the future.

Acting fast, Duke had grabbed the kid up and darted down a hall as quickly as he could, dropping a few gas pucks as a parting gift. One _may _have been sleeping gas, he wasn't sure. He was just too intent on getting away at the moment to bother looking.

Anyway here they were, Duke trying to get a signal and the Kid leaning against a crate with little less than half his face exposed. The one-eyed duck glared at his com. Figures the one time he really needed it, the damn thing didn't work!

"Great, guess we do this the old-fashioned way. Never the easy way, no that's to _easy and convenient._"

He muttered to himself. Reaching over, Duke grabbed Dive's shoulder and began to shake it. There was no way he could find a way to get a message to the rest of the team while dragging at least an (estimated) extra hundred pounds around.

While trying to wake him up, Duke finally noticed the funny marks on the kid. He frowned.

'What the..?'

Dive suddenly shifted at his attempts to wake the boy up. This caused the blanket to fall open to roughly the waist. Normally this wouldn't be a problem except for the previously unknown fact to Duke that the Kid was no longer a male. It was known now.

He couldn't help it. He stared and was still staring when his teammate's eyes slowly opened to blink confusedly at him. Duke also learned another fact. This new version of Nosedive packed one hell of a right hook.

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'Oh my God! I can't believe what just happened! Holy crap, I , whoa, why am I so embarrassed? It's just Duke, after all. Oh wait, that's right, it's _Duke_.'

Not knowing why, Dive wrapped herself tightly in the blanket until you could only really see her eyes, which were now wide awake. Duke slowly, oh so slowly, pushed himself off the floor, one hand tenderly feeling at his jaw where Dive's punch had landed a direct hit.

He still stared at her though. Turning red, Nosedive looked away from him, feeling exhaustion starting to take over again. A few moments of tense silence passed then,

"Uh, Kid, there something you want to clue me in on?"

She lightly shook her head to help fight the dizziness of sleep off, then muttered something. Duke got a little closer but still gave her plenty of personal space considering she'd just knocked him back about four or so feet.

"I didn't catch that."

She glanced at him, her tone suggesting that she was redder than a tomato under the blanket's cover.

"I said it's a long story."

He shrugged and looked at his com again. Maybe if he redid some of the wiring….

"Trust me, I think we got at least a little time for this."

She sighed and slumped back against the crate.

"Well, I don't know all of it but Wraith did something to some spring in (yawn) China. That's why…."

She trailed off and, getting an arm out, motioned at her new body. Duke gave a slow nod as she pulled her arm back in.

"He said something about me getting pregnant but beyond that I have no idea what's going on."

"Wait, what?! Mind repeating that first part?!"

Duke was staring at her again. Nosedive didn't understand.

"I said he said something about me getting preg…nant…"

Her eyes went wide as the knowledge finally clamped firmly onto her sluggish mind. Duke carefully got a little closer.

"Kid,…are you?"

She looked at him, letting the blanket fall to her shoulders, exposing her frightened face.

"I-I don't know Duke. I barely remember anything."

He tenderly placed a hand on her shoulder. She surprised him by launching herself into his chest, clinging tightly, and sobbing softly. This was understandably an uncomfortable and hard situation for both of them even if the reasons differed slightly.

The older avian hesitantly tried to calm down his younger teammate, but what exactly could he tell hi-uh, her that wouldn't upset…her…further? His presence seemed to be enough for now. So he just rubbed her back and shoulders, trying to calm the other down.

She eventually released him of her own accord, snuffling slightly as she used a corner of the blanket to dry her eyes and Duke uncomfortably scratched the back of his neck. Looking at his arm, he remembered what he was going to do with the com.

"Hey, Kid, my com isn't working so I'm gonna try to rewire it a little."

She gave him a weak smile.

"Tanya's gonna be mad."

He smiled back.

"Yeah, but it'll hopefully get us outta here."

Nosedive nodded again and slowly wobbled to her feet. She made sure to keep a careful grip on the blanket so Duke wouldn't get another eyeful.

"I'm gonna see what all's in here. Maybe I'll luck out and find something to wear."

Duke nodded in agreement while carefully using the tip of his saber to pry the com open.

"While you're at it, try to see if you can't find any kinds of tools."

Dive looked at him from a crate she'd been looking in.

"You're in luck. I just found an old screwdriver."

She gently tossed it to him before going back into the crate. He gave a grunt of thanks before getting to work, keeping an ear out for any signs of approaching enemies.

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The only good thing about the current situation was that, due to his throat injury, Chameleon temporarily couldn't talk. See good things do happen to bad people!

Siege rubbed his head in hopes of shutting up his snarling headache. Wraith was looming over the two of them and Dragaunus was looming over Wraith which basically meant he was looming over all three of them. Siege had long since gotten rid of the apron.

"You imbeciles! I can't believe you let one duck defeat the two of you!"

"That's usually my line, Wraith."

The venom in their master's voice made it clear that the spell castor was **not** in his good graces. The giant red alien turned to his henchmen.

"I want an entire sweep of the ship now. Don't you dare leave even one single room unchecked or else you'll face a punishment granted to the ducks." (1)

The low growl of Dragaunus's voice was more than enough to get them moving, along with the mini-fireballs Wraith threw at the other two as soon as they were out of his sight. Ah, typical saurian motivation, gotta love it.

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Ten minutes later and Duke was finally making headway with his com. Just switch those two wires and …perfect!

"Yes! Guess my skills ain't that rusty at all."

Dive looked at him again.

"Huh?"

Duke sighed.

"Never mind."

She shrugged and went back to rummaging in the box she'd found hidden under one of the others.

"Hey, Duke. What's this look like to you?"

The older male glanced over, wondering why the other sounded embarrassed. He blinked at what she was holding. Coughing into his hand, he felt himself turn just the slightest shade of red.

"It looks like a bikini top." 'And a skimpy one at that.'

The last part was left unsaid, staying in his thoughts.

"That's what I was afraid of."

Nosedive gave the top in her hand a glance. It really seemed so innocent, the cups were teal and the rest was a complimentary shade of darker blue. Even though she didn't want to, it still had to be done. Dive wasn't too keen on the thought of running around here with just a blanket to hide herself.

"Don't look."

Duke quickly looked away as she let the blanket drop again. After a few minutes of struggling,

"Uh, Duke?"

"Yeah, Kid?"

"Could you…tie this? I can't really seem to reach."

Turning red again, he was grateful for his dark plumage. It hid his embarrassment well.

"Sure."

He gently took the end pieces from her hand while she used one to hold her hair out of the way and an arm pinned the blanket over the rest of her. Duke tied first the lower two, then the upper ones around her neck swiftly and securely. He had no doubt that Dive would blame him if a knot came undone at the wrong moment.

"There ya go."

She let her hair fall down and rewrapped the blanket around herself.

"Thanks."

"Um, find anything else to wear?"

"This was it. I don't even want to know why it's here in the first place."

Duke nodded in agreement, trying to not think of reasons why. That sort of stuff could put a drake in the nuthouse.

"How's the com coming?"

He held up the jumble of wires.

"It'll get a message out. Just one problem."

Nosedive looked at him.

"What?"

"It'll have to be in Morse code. I kinda…broke the part that would let us talk through it."

Her glare did women over the world proud. Duke immediately backed up, hands in the defense position. Had to be a girl thing with that.

"Hey, I never claimed to be good at this kind of stuff! I'm more used to picking locks than rebuilding communicators!"

The blonde sighed putting a finger to her temple.

"So what kind of message do you want to send Duke? SOS or something?"

He shrugged.

"I don't know how long this will work so it's got to be short. An SOS will have to do."

The drake sat down next to her and picked up the screwdriver.

"Ready?"

"…Duke, I'm in nothing but a bikini top and a blanket. What do you think?"

He backed away a little. Apparently nasty tempers were also a girl thing.

"Alright, alright. Just thought I'd ask."

Working swiftly, he touched a piece of metal with an exposed wire tip. The result was a harsh 'beep' sound. He started to manipulate it into a series of varying sounds.

Nosedive blinked at it. It simply sounded like a jumble of sounds to her. This plan had better work. The consequences of it failing were something she didn't want to think about.

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Wraith chuckled to himself. He'd been so angry at the other two minions that he'd forgotten about the crystal the girl was wearing. The last time he'd seen it, it had changed from being perfectly clear to having hints of color to it.

That meant it held power in it and if it held power, then it was power from the unborn god which meant it was a type of magical power. Something he could easily track down.

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Dive gave a sudden yelp just as Duke was finishing with the message. He looked up at her.

"What's wrong?"

She fumbled at something around her neck.

"I don't know! Th-this crystal, it just got really hot all of a sudden!"

Frowning, Duke reached out for it. Why hadn't he noticed it before? Oh, that's why. The crystal was nestled right between the teen's breasts, not an area you'd really be staring at if said teen had once been your MALE teammate.

He lightly touched it, then yanked his hand back with a hiss.

"Holy crap, Kid. That thing's burning up!"

Duke nursed his singed fingers as Nosedive held it away from her neck by the cord.

"Why don't you just take it off?"

She seemed confused.

"I don't know, every time I think about it I suddenly think about something else."

Duke was opening his beak to comment when a huge cloud of smoke sprang into being right in front of them. Wraith didn't give him a chance to do anything else.

The staff smashed hard into the side of his head, effectively stunning him. The last thing Duke heard was Dive's scream, then it all went black as Wraith hit him again.

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Wraith smirked smugly at the unconscious duck before him. He could be useful for something in the future. Right now, he had to deal with the girl.

Nosedive had grabbed onto Duke's shoulders and held him close. Seeing Wraith move, she quickly leaned over her teammate to protect him. Tears fell out of her eyes. This was all her fault. If she hadn't been distracting him, then Duke may have been able to avoid Wraith's attack.

Wraith grabbed a handful of her hair and started to yank her to her feet.

"Come on, get up! I haven't got all day."

She only held on tighter, screwing her eyes shut as hairs started to tear free from her scalp. Dive was so focused on the pain in her scalp and trying to keep Duke safe that she didn't notice the slight twinge in her stomach.

Something made her grab Wraith's wrist tightly. They both felt the shock of electricity, but while Dive only felt the energy, Wraith got a shock similar to a lightning strike.

He screamed as it tore through him, pain making him let go of her hair and stumble back. Dive let go of him as soon as he let go of her, body shaking from the rush. Wraith fell to the floor, jerking and twisting.

Nosedive looked away, closing her eyes tightly. What had happened?!

The twinge happened again, except this time she was forced to hold Duke tightly to her. A cold, tingling sensation passed over her, along with the feeling that she was falling from somewhere very high.

A scream made her look up. Tanya was staring at her like she was just pulled out a bottle of powerful acid and threatened her lab with it.

"T-tanya?"

There was a moment of silence, then Nosedive fell over, slipping into a deep sleep. Exhaustion had won the war with her body.

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Darkness. Warmth. This was the world right now. Eventually they'd be forced into a world of light and coldness, never to return here until reincarnation.

They barely remembered the old world, the world of their worshippers. Too long had they been away, too long had they been forced to sleep a dreamless sleep.

They were free now and they would stay free this time. The silly mage hadn't done the second potion right. It granted more than just a little of their old powers back.

They frowned. The mage was bad. The mage had hurt their mother and made Mother scared. Her fear was for another and herself, so the mage was double bad. He'd hurt someone close to Mother. So they'd punished him.

They smiled. It was good to be free again and now they had the one thing they'd always wanted. A mother.

They would punish many more people if mother was hurt.

And next time, they probably wouldn't be so nice.

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Tiny:…okay this started to creep me out too.

Mallory: Well, that's what you get for using a zombie plot bunny!

Tiny: Silence you!...besides I couldn't just leave it there in the rain. That would have been cruel.

Tanya: No. What's cruel is what Wildwing's gonna do to you if he ever finds you.

Tiny:….

Siege: I better be getting a better part soon or else…

Tiny: Anyway, in case there was some confusion, there will be NO pairings with Wraith. He's just gone somewhat crazy…(Feel the readers' eyes on her) Okay, maybe more than a little. I'm thinking of a Duke x Mallory friendship if not an actual pairing. Besides that, well, we'll just have to see as the plot bunny…rots on my floor…EEWW!!!

Tiny: Read and review. It's the only way you'll find out what happens next! (Flies off to find a better plot bunny)

(1) What Draggy means is that he'll have them killed and roasted over a fire as the main course. Gross, I know.


	4. Chapter 4

TinySprite: Hey everyone! Sorry I was gone for so long. Took **forever** to find the perfect plot bunny and I also had to avoid Wildwing. Who would have guessed he wouldn't like this fic?

Wildwing: (sneaks up on authoress with a big flyswatter)

Grin: (sighs and grabs Wildwing) If you kill the writer how will Dive return to his normal self?

Duke: I'll do the disclaimer.

**Disclaimer: **TinySprite does not own The Mighty Ducks or anything associated with them. All she has is the plot. Be thankful.

TinySprite: What's that supposed to mean?!

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Tanya had no idea to be relieved or freaked out. She'd heard some kind of crackling noise then Nosedive and Duke suddenly popped up out of nowhere, nearly right on top of her. Settling on a mix between the two, she got Grin in her lab to help move the two into the infirmary.

Something about Nosedive caught her eye. Squatting next to him, Tanya frowned. Why was he wearing a bikini top?

Tanya gently pushed him onto his side as Grin carried Duke away. Her purple eyes (1) blinked in surprise. Oh, that's why. The scientist frowned again and then lightly lifted up the blanket to see what was under it. Her eyes blinked again. Oh….Wildwing was not going to like this.

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An hour later, Grin raised an eyebrow slowly.

"Tanya, are you really sure?"

The scientist nodded her head slowly, still getting her mind around it herself.

"I'm completely sure Grin. I did at least four different tests and they all had the same results. Nosedive is now a female."

Grin cast a glance at his soundly sleeping teammates. He thought he felt a difference in the boy's aura.

"….How are we gonna tell Wildwing?"

Tanya was to answer when a voice cut her off.

"Tell me what?"

There in the doorway was the drake in question, looking worse for the wear. Thankfully, Grin was in his line of sight so Wildwing couldn't see the beds. The other two exchanged a quick glance. They couldn't keep this from him for long.

"Uh, well, I'm not sure how it happened but, um, Duke and Nosedive are back."

Wildwing brightened up. He immediately tried to get past Grin to see his sibling. The gentle giant grabbed his shoulders to hold him still.

"Wildwing, there is something you need to know first."

"What? Is he hurt or something? Grin let me go. I need to see him."

Tanya answered slowly,

"Well, you see, he's not hurt…but, he's not the same either."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

Wildwing started to fight Grin's grip even harder.

"Wildwing, calm down and keep your voice down! This is the infirmary."

The white drake got free of Grin, shooting towards his brother's bed. In worry he yanked the sheet back to check for injuries and froze.

"What I was trying to say is that your brother…is now your sister."

Tanya eyed him warily. Grin got ready to grab him if need be, but it wasn't. There was a heavy five-minute silence, then…

Flump!

Wildwing feel over, unconscious. Tanya sighed and rubbed her forehead. At least that was out of the way.

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When Mallory found out, she fell over and **laughed. **She kept laughing hysterically until she fell into a severe case of hiccups. When those cleared up, the redhead kept giggling evilly to herself.

Grin stared at the redhead, then slowly left to go to his room. He needed to meditate…badly.

Phil, of course, cried for at least an hour. Then a strange light came into his eyes, one that made Tanya want to hide in her lab. He ran off for his office, saying something about a modeling deal.

Tanya couldn't get rid of the feeling that this was going to bite her in the ass sometime soon.

Nosedive came to first with a groan. Tanya looked up at her with a weak smile.

"Hey. How are you feeling?"

The teen blinked slowly then tried to hide herself with the blanket from the bed, one part of her mind wondering how she got into a pair of her boxers and a baggy shirt.

Tanya shook her head lightly.

"I already know. We all do."

Dive blushed.

"Oh."

"So…feel alright?"

Dive nodded her head, then hesitated.

"Tanya?"

The scientist leaned closer to her.

"Yes?"

"Is a…pregnancy test…hard?"

The older woman shook her head no.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Um, because, uh…."

Nosedive looked down and away, too ashamed to continue. Tanya gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's quick and simple. All I really need is some blood. Do you want me to do one for you?"

Nosedive simply nodded. She timidly held out her arm for Tanya to take the blood. The scientist gently wiped an area of the teen's arm off with an antiseptic pad, then lightly pricked it with a needle.

Dive gave a little whimper at it but held still for Tanya to finish.

"There, done."

Dive nodded again as Tanya gave her a band-aid.

"How long will it take?"

"Only about half an hour."

Nosedive nodded quietly as Tanya started the test.

"Where's Wildwing?"

Tanya couldn't help a smile and chuckle.

"He's in his room, sleeping. Do you want me to get him?"

"Um, yes please."

Tanya raised both her eyebrows. It wasn't like the teen to be so polite. Then again, it wasn't like the teen to suddenly have a gender change.

"Oh, if Mallory comes in here, you may want to hide. She took the news a little…weird."

Nosedive gulped softly, wondering what she meant by 'weird'.

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Tanya lightly knocked on Wildwing's door. She waited for a minute before entering. His room was oddly neat considering his sibling. The drake was still in his bed, dead to the world.

She giggled slightly out of nerves before gently shaking his shoulder.

"Wildwing? Wildwing, wake up."

He moaned lightly and rolled over. Tanya sighed then shook his other shoulder.

"Mm, what? What is it?"

"Nosedive's awake and wants to see you."

Wildwing sat up, still just the tiniest bit sleepy.

"Really? I'll be right there."

She nodded and left to give him a moment of privacy. Returning to the Infirmary, she found that the teenager had fallen asleep again.

Wildwing entered soon after.

"I thought you said Dive was awake?"

"I guess she went back to sleep."

"Oh."

He glanced around the room.

"How are the others?"

"Canard's stable and should wake up soon himself. Duke took a pretty nasty hit to the head. Don't expect him up soon."

Wildwing gestured to the monitor next to Tanya.

"What's that?"

She lightly bit the inside of her cheek. Should she tell him or let Nosedive tell?

"It's something for Nosedive."

Wildwing thought about asking her what it was again, but decided to wait until tomorrow. He was too tired to deal with much else right now. All he really cared about was that Nosedive was back here, safe and sound.

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Dragaunus was not happy. Somehow that duck-girl and the ex-thief had been able to escape and Wraith was in some sort of coma. The only good thing was that Chameleon had yet to regain the ability of speech.

Siege was busy rechecking the security tapes to see if they (him and Chameleon, of course,) had missed anything and the green saurian was in his own room tending to his throat.

The saurian Overlord felt his temper hitting volcanic. How could they lose two defenseless ducks in the ship with no idea about it?!

He snarled before grabbing a droid and smashing it into the wall. It only made his temper worse. He would have that god's power, one way or another.

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TinySprite: (on top of a **really **tall cabinet) Uh, sorry about leaving it here. I'm trying to do another story and it's cutting into this one. (jumps as the flyswatter almost gets her) Geez, you think Wing'd be happy to have his sibling back.

Wildwing: I am happy. I want to make you pay for this fic though.

Mallory: (still giggling evilly)

Tiny: (sweat drop) Uh, okay. Hey y'all! Things are gonna be a little frantic at my house cause my mom's getting married again. So don't expect frequent updates! I'll try to get another one out by next week at least.

And don't forget to review! How else will I know if this story is good or not?


	5. Chapter 5

TinySprite: Hey everyone! (Dodges the randomly thrown objects with ease) Sorry I haven't updated in a while! This story will always be my baby no matter what! …Please don't ask….

Mallory: Wasn't counting on it.

Grin: (looks up from lighting relaxation candle #389) I'll do the disclaimer.

**Disclaimer: **In the balance of the universe, it was decided that the Mighty Ducks would not belong to the authoress. The balance is perfect.

Tiny:….even I didn't get that…..Oh! By the way, this chapter is going to be after a month or so has passed. If anyone's wondering, in this story the ducks have only been on Earth for roughly four months now.

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(The day after Nosedive and Duke came back)

The first time Canard saw Dive, it was hilarious, plain and simple.

Tanya alerted everyone when he woke up. Wildwing arrived within seconds of the call, Grin close behind.

Mallory had been doing something in her room and no one really wanted to know why she looked so pleased while dragging a protesting Nosedive with her.

Duke was still out of it.

The tan drake smiled at everyone, confirming that he was okay. The only problem was a slight headache.

Then he frowned, looking past Grin. Canard got to his feet and walked a little off balance to the door where Mallory had finally managed to drag Nosedive into view.

The blonde stopped fighting Mallory and looked down, blushing slightly as she fidgeted her feet.

They now knew why the redhead was so happy.

She had somehow managed to get the teen into a medium green cloth skirt that ended a few inches above the knee and was a little too low on the hips for Wildwing's liking. Her top was a lighter green v-neck tank top with wide straps. The outfit looked somewhat okay, just…a little too much green for Nosedive's taste.

It didn't help at all that the shirt stopped a little bit above the skirt so that a tiny strip of her belly was always showing. The fact that it was completed with sandals really had no effect on anyone except Dive who blamed them for being too hard to run in.

Canard circled her once going clockwise, then again counter-clockwise. He stopped for a second, shook his head slowly and repeated the double circle.

After the third time of this, he gently made Nosedive raise her head enough for him to examine her beak. He nodded to himself, stood still a minute, shook his head again, and finally lifted her right arm out to look at something on her forearm. The others could see a small scar there, nothing too significant or distinguishing.

Canard raised his head, shook it again, looked at the other ducks closely, shook his head yet again, and inspected the teen another time.

It seemed to really get on her nerves.

"Hey, Canard, it's me, Nosedive, alright! So stop treating me like I'm some bug under a microscope!"

That seemed to snap him out of it. Calmly, he walked back to the bed he'd occupied previously and sat back down on it. Turning to Tanya, the tan mallard very calmly said,

"Tanya, I think I've gone crazy. Nosedive now seems to be a girl."

There was a thirty-second pause, then they all heard a snort from the doorway.

Everyone watched as Dive slowly fell to the floor, where she broke down helplessly into laughter, with Mallory joining her. Needless to say, that dispelled the uneasy feeling in the room.

After reassuring him that he was most definitely not crazy, Tanya explained as much as she could what happened.

Canard still had trouble believing it though and when she warned him that Nosedive was with egg, the poor drake looked ready to cry. He'd had sleepovers at the Flashblade home before Dive was hatched so he'd witnessed the terror of the elder Mrs. Flashblade!

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In the following weeks, Phil had learned many things about the ducks. Many, many things.

The most important of which was when Nosedive wanted something to eat or drink and he had an important publicity thing of any kind for her to go to, he'd better stop and let her have what she wanted.

The first such incident still played in his mind…(Start flashback!)

(One week after Nosedive and Duke came back)

Mallory looked up from her magazine.

"A swimsuit shoot?"

The fat brunette nodded eagerly, already thinking of ways to use this gender change of Nosedive's to his monetary advantage. People always did love the adorable little sibling, especially if said sibling was a girl.

"Come on, Boobies! It'll be great! The shoot's right here at the local beach and they sectioned a piece off so that you gals won't be bothered and they really itching to get exclusive photos of all three girls of the Mighty Ducks!"

Tanya, who'd chosen that moment to sip her iced tea, spat it all out on herself, the coffee table, and the cover of Mallory's magazine that the redhead used as a shield.

"What?! All girls?! Phil, Nosedive doesn't want to go out in public right now and there's no way Wildwing is going to agree to that!"

He shrugged, a plan already forming in his money-obsessed brain.

"Well, I can't cancel the shoot. It's this afternoon."

This time it was Mallory who spat out her drink. The only differences were that it was soda (Pepsi, to be exact) and it only got the coffee table. Poor coffee table, what had it done to deserve so much abuse?

"Phil what were you thinking?! There's no way that you could convince Wildwing in time for this crazy idea to work!"

Aforementioned drake chose that moment to enter, followed by aforementioned sister. Phil pounced like a fat cat on a muscular duck-mouse.

"Hey, Wildwing, Booby, don't you think today is a nice day to hit the beach? You know, enjoy a little sun and build a sandcastle or something?"

The white-feathered mallard knew he was up to something immediately. Call it a 'Phil-sense' if you will.

"What's it this time Phil?"

Mallory spoke first, well, more like shouted it.

"That idiot wants us to do a swimsuit shoot **this **afternoon and he only told us about it **two minutes **ago!"

Wildwing sighed and rubbed the area between his eyes (the mask was in a pouch on his belt). Only ten-o'five and a head ache was already brewing.

"Phil, we've talked about this. No publicity ideas unless you warn me at least a day in advance."

Phil looked horrified that this idea may actually not work.

"Bu-but Wildwing, I can't cancel the shoot! They're willing to pay almost sixty-thousand dollars for these pictures alone and that's not even including the cut we get from the magazine sales or the interview they're gonna do on site!"

Mallory got off the couch dangerously.

"You never told us about an interview, Phil."

He started backing up from her with his hands held up in the defensive position.

"What time is it, Phil?"

The manager looked at the teen.

"Huh?"

She rolled her eyes.

"The photo shoot. What time is the photo shoot?"

The other three looked at her now, Mallory slowly lowering her fists in confusion. Phil happily answered her.

"It's at one-thirty."

Nosedive looked at the small kitty clock on the wall (joke gift from Thrash and Mookie).

"Tanya, you wanted to do an ultra sound today, right?"

The blonde scientist nodded.

"Could we do that tomorrow? I really want to go to the beach."

Needless to say, the other four stared at her.

"What? It's boring being cooped up in here and besides, (she gave them all a set, serious look) I want to build a sandcastle."

The three ducks fell to the floor anime style while Phil had about fifty dollar signs swirling around him. Then something clicked in his head.

"Why do you need an ultra sound, Nosedive? Is something else wrong?"

The teen just waved him off as she went into the kitchen area. Phil followed her like a lost puppy.

"Nosedive, seriously babe, why do you need an ultra sound?"

"It's nothing big Phil."

She opened the fridge to pull out some carrots.

"Yum! Carrot smoothie!"

The human stared at the duck teen that had at one time claimed all vegetables pure evil…unless of course they were in a taco or some other fast food thing.

"Uh, yeah, anyway, we need to get going."

She frowned.

"But I'm hungry, Phil. I mean, the shoot is at one-thirty isn't it? You said so yourself."

He nodded before grabbing her arm.

"Yeah, but if we leave now we can beat traffic and probably squeeze in a few more photos."

"But, Phil, I really want a smoothie!"

"We can get you one on the way there. Let's just go!"

"But I want one now!"

"Like I said we can get you one late-"

He never got to finish that sentence as he was suddenly up against a wall being held up by the fronts of his jacket and shirt. Nosedive was glaring at him.

"I said I wanted a smoothie and I want one now. I don't want one later, Phil, I want one **right** now. Got that?"

He nodded quietly, too scared to say anything unless it would make her hurt him. When did she get so strong anyway?!

"Good. Oh, and before you annoy me with any more questions, I'm pregnant. That's why Tanya wants an ultra sound."

Her menacing blue eyes suddenly narrowed.

"If I find even one tiny hint about this in **any **and I mean **any **news article, press release, flier or anything else, they'll find that Jimmy Hoffa person before they find you. Am I understood, Phil?"

He nodded again rapidly, wondering how she would even know about the famous missing mob boss.

"Perfectly, booby. Crystal clear."

She glared at him for a full five seconds more then dropped him with a bright smile.

"Good! Now onto the smoothie!"

He stared as she innocently began making a smoothie as if she had never threatened anyone in her whole life.

Phil heard someone else walk in. Duke casually put his empty coffee cup in the sink, gave Dive a small smile and left, making a motion for Phil to follow him.

Once in the (relative) safety of the hall, the one eyed drake looked at him with amusement.

"So, I couldn't help but overhear you finally getting acquainted with the Kid's new temper."

Phil jerkily smoothed his front.

"Is that what that was? I thought she was going to make _me_ into a smoothie for a minute!"

Duke laughed under his breath, shaking his head.

"Phil, here's a little advice about avian women."

The manager leaned in closer, eager to hear anything that had the potential to help preserve his life.

"Like human women, avian women get very hormonal during pregnancy. However, unlike you humans, our women get hormonal , as in possible whole new person hormonal. We have no idea if this is how Nosedive will really act as a girl. Be grateful she isn't more like her mother."

"Why?"

"Cause our fearless leader said that when their mother was pregnant with Nosedive's egg, she was a step below psychotic. Always yelling at their dad and beating at him, you know that kind of stuff. Of course, the only ones immune to the hormone-induced-personality switch are children so Wildwing was safe."

"Why?"

Duke shrugged.

"No one really knows and to be honest, no one really had the courage to find out. The only clue any one has is that maybe being around children helps the woman remember that she herself is carrying her future child or something like that."

The manager nodded in slight agreement. Then, as can be expected from someone like him, Phil's eyes lit up with so many possible ideas that you could actually _see _his brain doing the figures.

He walked off saying something about a Mighty Ducks diapers brand.

At least the photo shoot went well and they'd (barely) made it in time.

(End flashback)

Now, as he pulled over the van at a McDonald's so that Nosedive could go grab a burger along with Grin (who felt like having a salad), Phil hoped she'd have that egg soon!

All these mood swings were going to kill him and his profits!

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(Current time-one month since Dive and Duke returned)

"I'm soooo booorreedddd!!!"

Nosedive shifted from her side to her back then to her front and finally onto her other side, trying to get comfy on her bed. Who could blame her for being bored anyway?

She was locked up in the Pond, allowed out only with a chaperone and usually not for longer than an hour or two, unless it was a publicity thing and then at least half the team was with her.

Phil had kept his word about not revealing her pregnancy, though he had made a very good argument with Wildwing that they would have to tell the public eventually because a baby was a pretty hard thing to hide and someone was bound to find out sometime anyway.

Hence the reason that they couldn't really prepare a nursery. If someone saw the ducks buying baby things it was only a matter of time before everything was revealed.

Nosedive groaned again and sat up.

'They could at least let me practice hockey.'

She thought sullenly.

One of the first things Wildwing had done, besides the restrictions on going outside, was take her off the team and replace her with Canard. Once she sat down and thought about it, it was a good plan considering her current condition, but her anger argued that it was out of line to kick her out of practice too.

In protest, instead of sleeping in that extra hour or so it allowed her each morning, Nosedive got up very early every morning, before even Wildwing got up early, and made breakfast. Sad to say, her protest went unnoticed aside from Tanya criticizing her for getting up too early.

Nosedive countered it easily with the fact that her sleeping schedule had shifted from ten at night to ten in the day to the new schedule of from four in the afternoon to roughly three-thirty in the morning. Besides that, the other ducks didn't even get the hint that she was protesting!

Now it was more of a habit than anything else and besides,…Duke seemed to enjoy waking up to an already made pot of coffee than having to make one himself.

The teen sighed and grabbed a cookbook off of her otherwise clean floor. Other things had changed beyond her sleeping schedule. Before, Nosedive didn't care how messy 'his' room had been, now however, it seemed like a gene linking her and Wildwing as siblings had finally become active as cleaning her room had been pretty much the first thing she did with all of her new free time and she kept it clean.

Needless to say, it had shocked the others speechless, Wildwing and Canard especially with the second seriously wondering if Tanya had been right about him not being crazy.

Another thing was that she couldn't seem to stop wanting to cook. If you take in the following facts, you'll see why the other ducks definitely didn't mind this change:

1. Mallory not only burned everything she cooked, it sometimes even seemed to be mutated.

2. Tanya knew nothing of cooking beyond cookbooks, often had little to no time for it, and had once before accidentally served the team an experiment from her lab,… many had assumed it was Mallory's turn to make dinner that night.

3. Beyond basic sandwiches, Wildwing had no clue how to cook. They usually had take out then.

4. Duke was little better than Tanya besides the fact that he actually knew how to correctly make pasta. He often ordered out as well, claiming to have no time to cook.

5. Grin _was_ the one with the most cooking experience among them, except everything he knew how to make was vegetarian. You could only eat that for so long.

6. For Canard, see #3.

7. Before the change, Nosedive just went ahead and ordered out. Oddly, no one complained. (They were too used to take out anyway)

There you have it. All the facts why no one minded Nosedive taking over the kitchen duties. She didn't complain _too_ much as it gave her something to do.

Nosedive flipped through the pages in boredom, looking to see if there was something quick she could make for lunch. Nothing stood out at her, though she did have a sudden craving for a slice of lemon pie topped with rocky road ice cream.

Blue eyes glared at her still flat tummy.

"You want me to throw chunks tonight, don't you?"

Of course, there was no answer beyond wanting grape juice along with the pie and ice cream.

"…I'll take that as a yes."

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Four hours later, Nosedive was trying to find a place to put the third cherry pie on the already crowded table when Grin walked in.

The gentle giant took one look at the table, then inside the fridge before stepping outside and raising Mallory on his com.

"Hey Grin. Everything okay?"

"Everything is fine. Are you and Canard still at the grocery store?"

The redhead sighed.

"Alright, just tell me what we need to get."

Grin saw her grab a pencil and some paper.

"More frozen pie crusts, fruit preserves, sweet potatoes, fruit juices, and ice cream."

"…Got it. See ya in another hour."

Grin nodded as she signed off, then turned off his own com before reentering the kitchen. With all those pies, chances were that at least one was apple and besides, Nosedive couldn't possibly eat all of them herself.

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"Phil, for the last time, no!"

The brunette frowned at the hockey captain. He'd asked Wildwing to come to his office for a private talk, which is what they were supposed to be doing right now.

"Geez, Wildwing, would you at least let me talk? This has nothing to do with any publicity gigs."

The drake blinked in complete surprise at the normally greedy as anything manager. He still sat a little cautiously in his chair though.

Phil waited a moment before deciding that he'd be able to talk without interruptions.

"You know that I promised not to say a thing about your sister's 'condition' right?"

Wildwing nodded slowly, wondering where this was going.

"Well, thing is, a lot of people are curious, as can be expected. I mean, wouldn't you if the kid you always thought was a boy was "really" a girl (Phil did air quotes on that). Wildwing, booby, I now you're only looking out for Nosedive's best interests but,…thing is I've been getting a lot of requests from magazines, reporters, talk shows, you name it! And they all want to talk to her."

The drake felt his temper starting to rise, along with a head-ache.

"Phil, what are you getting at?"

The manager sighed before continuing.

"I haven't accepted any offers yet, Wildwing, but soon I'm gonna have to."

"No! Dive is not going to do an interview alone. I don't care how much they're paying for it Phil, the answer is no!"

Phil put a hand to his own head, feeling a headache coming on himself.

"Wildwing, you don't understand how this works. If I keep refusing the interviews, eventually people are going to wonder why and assume there's a reason for it besides what I've been saying.

That means we're gonna get paparazzi even worse than it is now and possibly some undercover reporters who actually know what they're doing. It may not happen within the week, but trust me booby, there is a high chance that Nosedive's real secret is gonna be discovered.

What's even more is that no one knows the father. I know that you say technically there isn't one, but the public is going to want one for their own purposes and when you think about it, there is always a guy involved somehow."

Wildwing stayed quiet, mulling over what Phil was telling him. The man uneasily cleared his throat.

"Wildwing, there's more. (The drake looked at him) Since there is no obvious father, people may assume the child is…incestuous."

"WHAT?! PHIL, THAT'S ONE OF THE SICKEST THINGS I'VE EVER HEARD!!!!!!!"

The manager put his hands up quickly.

"Well, when you take into account how protective you are of her, people are going to assume it means something more. Siblings don't often have a close relationship like you and she have."

Wildwing was still angry, but forced himself to calm down to finish listening to Phil.

"So what are you suggesting we do, Phil?"

"I'm going to accept one of the interview offers, preferably one of the ones from a teen magazine. They won't be as pushy as some of the others and Nosedive can answer a lot of the questions truthfully although we may have to give her some responses to certain questions.

I'll ask for a sheet of questions that the reporter will most likely ask and we can work out what your sister can answer on her own and what she'll probably have to avoid or at least lie about. In the meantime, (Phil hesitated)…Wildwing, you're gonna need to talk to Duke and Grin."

"Why?"

Phil waited a moment before answering.

"Because you need to figure out whom to claim as the father when the baby comes. Let me speak!(He hurried to finish as the team captain looked ready to get violent.)

You're her brother and Canard hasn't been around long enough for a relationship to occur unless it was back on your home planet. People are going to be more willing to believe it was one of them since they've been around longer and, no offense, but Nosedive is a teen girl and they can fall into love pretty fast."

Wildwing nodded grudgingly, remembering the girls from his own high school and how they changed boyfriends like the weather.

Phil coughed slightly to clear his own throat.

"That's it for right now. I've got some paperwork to do if we're gonna pull this off."

Wildwing left silently, amazed that Phil hadn't tried to work in any publicity offers and had actually been serious the whole time. Maybe there was more to him than they thought.

Phil watched as the captain left, then shuffled through his paperwork. He hadn't been lying about having a lot of work to do. The publicity offers could wait until tomorrow at least…or a few more hours.

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Tiny: Wow, nine pages. Ugh, I gotta leave it at this for now but I seriously promise to have another chapter out soon!

Dragaunus: I better be in the next one for your sake.

Tiny:…Maybe. Anyway, if there's any requests from the viewers, then just drop it in a review and I'll see about it!

Nosedive:….


	6. Chapter 6

TinySprite: (does the happy dance) My mom is married now and then I'm free! Yeah that's right, I'm free, free, free, fffrrreeeee!!!!!

Duke:…can you tell that this makes her happy?

Mallory: Gee, it does?! (sarcasm, sarcasm)

Canard: I got the disclaimer!

**Disclaimer: **Not even in Limbo does the authoress own the Mighty Ducks or any related characters. Believe me, I looked.

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Wraith nursed his hurting arm quietly, reading from one of the few tomes he'd been able to bring with him to Earth.

How could he have been so stupid? Normally Siege or Chameleon did something like this, but not him.

Apparently, when a god was sealed for as long as this one was, they tended to forget who they were and what they did before being sealed. Some memories may remain but not much.

They also tended to become attached to the female that was carrying their unborn form, almost possessively so. Pity on anyone who dared mean her harm before they were laid.

Wraith sighed, moving the herb pack on his arm to another spot. He should have done this research before doing the ceremony but the opportunity to carry it out had been too tempting to ignore.

His body ached from the electric shock he'd received and there was a nasty burn mark on his arm where that…that _female_ had grabbed him.

The spell caster growled to himself. He'd have to find a way to get the girl without harming her or (he looked again at his arm) anyone close to her.

This needed some thought.

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In the Anaheim shopping district, trouble was brewing….that is if you could count two ticked-off and worried teenagers as trouble.

Thrash looked at Mookie.

"This is taking too long. I say we just go ahead and visit them."

The girl shook her head.

"If Dive wanted to be with us, then she'd come to us."

She looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I gotta admit it, I really thought Dive was a guy."

Thrash nodded in agreement while taking a big slurp of his soda.

Business at the comic shop was slow and besides, this was perfect weather to just walk around doing nothing or go to the beach.

(five minutes later)

"Hey Thrash?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you still wanna see Dive and the others?"

"Yup."

"Let's go then, I think all this boredom is destroying what brain cells I have left that P.E. class didn't get."

Thrash laughed as they closed up the store. Mookie was not the best volleyball/baseball/softball player and it really showed whenever the coach decided to have them play any of the sports. Let's just say five visits to the nurse per class period and at least two were head injuries.

Thirty minutes later they were walking out of the store and straight to the Pond.

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Tiny: Cliffhanger!...Sorry, stupid writers block.

Canard:…Um, (holds up his hands defensively to the readers) we'll get her to write more next time. Promise.

Tiny: Ugh, once again sorry about this. Hey, if anyone's curious, I'm taking a poll on who to be the 'Dad' of the kid. I already have one vote for Duke. The poll closes on Friday the 17th of next week, so get those votes in! You can just drop it in a review or send me an e-mail to the account on my profile.

I'll update right after the poll closes. It's the least I can do since one of you magnificent people took Wildwing away! lol


	7. Chapter 7

TinySprite: Hey, I'm really sorry about the late update. School starting, people who think I'm a free psychiatrist because I've read a few medical books, and a case of writer's block that would make anyone bow down and surrender everything are not good for writing a story!

Chameleon: Yeah, sure, everyone cares about that…not! Just say who won the darn poll already!

Tiny: Alright, alright, sheesh, impatient much?

Chameleon: Grr!

Tiny: And the big winner is, (drum roll)…Duke with five votes! Grin only got one…that's kinda cold don't ya think?

Grin: What other people decide is none of my concern until it affects my being on a physical plane.

Mallory: Uh, just if anyone's curious, Duke sort of looked at the poll earlier and now no one can find him.

Canard: Got the disclaimer!

**Disclaimer: **TinySprite only owns…hey what does she even own anyway? Not us that's for sure!

Tiny: ….No comments….

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Nosedive sniffed lightly as she drifted down the sidewalk towards the park. Tanya had given her the go ahead so long as she checked in on the com if this took longer than an hour.

The blonde quietly wiped a few tears away with the side of her hand. Maybe a few rounds on the swings would make her feel better.

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Aforementioned scientist was now looking curiously at the two humans now entering the Pond through the front door.

"Hey, can I help you?" she called out to them.

The girl (Mookie wasn't it?) glanced over before going straight to Tanya.

"Yeah, we're here to see Dive. She around?"

The older female shook her head.

"Sorry, you just missed her. Nosedive should be back soon though, so why don't you two stick around? I'm sure she'd like the company."

The brunette (Trash, Thresh, what was his name, Thrash, that's it!) nodded in agreement, steering his friend to one of the hockey rink seat rows, already pulling snacks and bottled sodas from his beaten up book bag.

Tanya watched them for a minute longer, then shrugged and continued repairing the speaker that had blown out during the last game. Maintaining some of this equipment herself helped keep expenses down and that was a definite plus in Phil's account book!

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Wraith glared at his crystal shards for the fiftieth time since the morning when inspiration hit him. Actually it came in the form of a small child's whimper, a _duckling_ to be exact.

Yes, this was the sure plan to do! This time, he would be wise to take note of **everything**, possible errors included.

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They were sorry, they had done a bad thing though what it was they didn't know. All that mattered right now was that Mother was sad and they wanted to make her feel better.

What would make Mother feel better?

They strained what little memories they had left, noting that some seemed to have come back since their reformation here. An idea popped up from a memory, well more like memories, of what the once-worshippers always seemed to want, ask for, even pray desperately for and they had what would make Mother happy again.

They would help Mother find love! (A/N: Be afraid, dear readers, be very afraid!)

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Wildwing shifted in his chair, feeling extremely uncomfortable and wishing that this wasn't happening.

Duke sat across from him at the kitchen table with Grin being closer to the end, actually using a chair for once. The sooner he got this over with, then the sooner it could be done with. He slowly cleared his throat.

"Listen, I know the kitchen probably isn't the best place for this discussion but it's the only place we can get a little privacy and-"

Grin politely held up a hand to cut the white drake off.

"We already know what you wish to talk about."

Duke nodded with him, sipping his coffee. After swallowing, he picked up a bag and put it on the table.

"Ya see, Wildwing, Grin and I both already talked about this and we've already decided on something. I bet ya didn't know that he was married, huh?"

Wildwing blinked in surprise before looking at Grin. The gentle giant slowly nodded his head with a proud smile to confirm it.

"I also have a child of my own, though I am not sure of their whereabouts."

The gray drake sounded very sad, looking down at the table before visibly steadying himself and looking back into his leader's eyes.

"I worry for them, but I am sure that the good karmas of my wife and my own combined will bring us back together, along with our child."

Wildwing nodded, his mind unwillingly thinking about other family members of his own, still on Puckworld and wondering of their fate.

After the uncomfortable silence passed, Duke sighed and pulled something, no, several things out of the bag.

"Uh, well, like I said, we've already talked about it and Grin's not comfortable with the thought of doing something like this. So since Canard sees the Kid like a younger sibling, well from what you've told us, that really only leaves me. Besides, (here he handed the other drake….magazines?) it seems that the humans have already made their choice."

Wildwing felt his eyebrow go up at some of the titles. One was a teen fashion magazine featuring a poll on possible good duck matches. Nosedive and Duke tied at the top with…himself and Mallory?!

Feeling a little red, he looked at the next one, a tabloid, and went redder. It suggested that Nosedive** had** originally been a boy, but due to unknown avian biological mechanics, had switched genders to help balance out the lack of females since he was the youngest and weakest male. That one was almost right…just a few miles off on most of it.

The next was mostly the same, another tabloid with the almost exact same column only with the names of different doctors and specialists and with different "evidence".

The fourth was yet another tabloid, except this one was one of those dedicated strictly to celebrities. It contained an article on a supposed pairing between his sister and Duke, one of the accompanying photos showed them hugging just outside a theater.

Wildwing smirked at it. The pic was an obvious phony; Nosedive had only gone to the movies twice since the change, once with Mallory and Tanya on her first ever 'Girls Night Out' and the second with Wing himself, just an innocent sibling bonding activity. Besides, he remembered that pose from another picture taken at an autograph signing when Dive had tripped over her own two feet because of her new tie-up sandals (1) and collided right into Duke, who tried to catch her at the same time to keep her from smashing her head against the building's staircase.

"These are the only ones right now, but once the idea catches on…well, this'll probably get messy."

Wildwing looked up.

"Why's that Duke?"

The older drake shrugged, lightly rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, to start with, the two of us are probably going to be expected to have some bad blood between us for a while. Come on, I'll be 'dating' and… (Bigger gulp of coffee, almost makes one wonder if he's using it like beer) to put it bluntly, getting her pregnant. That's got to get me at least a few punches if not suspension from the hockey team if nothing else to the public."

The one-eyed drake sipped his coffee again before continuing.

"What this basically comes down to is that if you have any acting skills at all, they're gonna be abused to a whole new degree of severity for who knows how long."

Wildwing stifled a small laugh, seeing the value of Duke's advice and how right it was. Letting out his own sigh, he settled into the chair and started to discuss strategy with the other two.

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Mallory quietly flipped through a fashion mag before deciding it was time to hit the gym. Her com beeped as she was leaving her room.

"Hello?"

A nervous looking boy stared back at her.

"Hey, Mallory, I didn't know if this was allowed or not but uh…um…"

The boy trailed off sheepishly with a little blush. The redhead sighed mentally; Buzz still had that silly crush on her.

"It's alright, Buzz. What's going on?"

The child genius shrugged and petted something off to the side that barked in pleasure. She smiled. After all the scramble that happened after Dive and Duke got back, everyone had more or less forgotten about the dog…well at least until Tanya had the allergy attack of the season (2).

That problem had finally been solved after Buzz offered to take the dog in. Apparently he convinced his guardians that a dog would help him get through the trials of being a kid prodigy and increase his work productivity when he became an adult.

Neither human or dog could have been happier when Buzz was allowed to have the pet, although it now meant that now he had to make sure he showered before he came to the Pond for a visit because of Tanya's allergies.

"Uh, nothing much, me and Buster here are doing fine. (He smiled suddenly) She's gonna have puppies soon!"

Mallory blinked.

"How'd that happen?"

The boy shrugged innocently enough but the mischievous grin on his face ruined it.

"Really weird, someone forgot to lock up one of the Dobermans when she was in heat, I mean, they even left her cage open!"

The redhead shook her head. Who would have guessed that Buzz loved animals almost as much as he loved the Mighty Ducks?

His grin fell.

"Hey, sorry I if bothered you or anything, but I actually called to tell you that I won't be able to visit for a while. Some scientists want to discuss a few of my new findings with them and that could take some time."

Buzz stuck his tongue out with a shudder at the upcoming torture. Mallory winced in sympathy.

"Well, if you ever get the time you can always call one of us to chat, you know."

The boy smiled.

"Thanks Mallory that means more than you think it would. I'll see ya around. Bye!"

"Bye, Buzz."

'And good luck.' She mentally added as he signed off. A room full of stuffy, egotistical scientists, each trying to claim some sort of part in Buzz's work was not something she would wish on anyone that age.

Seriously, what was it with humans and pride?

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(1) You know that kind of sandal, instead of straps it has two laces that you tie around your ankle. Trust me, unless you have of experience with them, those things are an ER trip waiting to happen!

(2) In the episode 'Bringing down Baby' towards the end of it, Tanya rejects Nosedive's request for a dog stating that's she's allergic. I remember this best because that was my favorite episode, right next to the one where Falcone tried to frame Duke.

Tiny: I swear that I'll get more soon! Uh, reviews are really appreciated cause this was the only way I could break the 'Who's going to be the dad' conversation without making it too funny or too serious.


	8. Chapter 8

TinySprite: Okay, writers block is one thing but writers overload is a whole new field! I seriously couldn't figure out how to do this chapter! But here it is (finally)!

Sorry but I may add an OC or two eventually. It just depends on which direction I take the story. Don't worry, it always irritates me when an author basically lets what at first seemed like an OC side character pretty much take over the story, so I try to practice what I preach, eh heh. -.-()

Anyway, I may post another story soon, but I'll try to at least get this one to ten chapters before I do that.

Tanya: Uh, I think the readers want you to start with the story now… (Staring at the slowly angering readers)

Wraith: I guess it's my turn for the disclaimer…oh joy….

**Disclaimer: **Not even using the dark magics of the saurian ancestors would this writer ever own the Mighty Ducks…what a pity considering some of her ideas….

Tiny: (Screams and slaps hands over my head) Wraith stop reading my thoughts!

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Anaheim Park was a lovely place with plenty of trees, a little pond for ducks or pigeons, a well-maintained playground area, and it was a decent distance away from the Anaheim Mall and its food court for any that got hungry.

In short, it was a place many felt happy in. Today, however, was a little different seeing as there was one unhappy person there, an unhappy duck to be exact.

Nosedive stared at the ground, mostly just swaying slightly in the swing she was sitting in but sometimes giving herself a little push with a foot against the woodchip covered ground and allowing the swing to go back and forth for a while.

She'd been talking to Tanya in her lab earlier when a thought crossed her mind and she'd become deeply saddened. The blonde's thoughts swirled on a few subjects and all dealt with home.

Not the Pond 'home', but home 'home', Puckworld. A tear slid from the corner of one eye to meet the rest drying on her cheeks. If they ever got back, how would she be accepted?

Dive knew that Wildwing loved and accepted her as her mind timidly poked at the subject of family. Even though she knew both her parents had siblings, she'd never really met any of them, so little to worry there. Her father was the kind of guy who didn't care so long as it didn't bother him directly. Dive was the most worried about him since he never really made a comment on teen pregnancy beyond eventual marriage of the girl and boy.

At least she knew exactly where her other parent stood. Her mother had been dropping annoying hints about grandchildren since both of her boys finally entered the 'Hey girls aren't that bad' stage after the 'Girls are gross' stage.

The teen smiled at that memory, only for it to fall as she remembered Lee. **That** would be an awkward conversation. After all, how do you tell your (Once?) girlfriend that not only were you now a girl yourself but also knocked up because of something a saurian mage did?

Dive gave a little shudder at the thought only to smile again. Knowing Lee, the girl would punch a hole in something first, then scream and rant for an hour or two before eventually breaking down in angry tears and finally accepting the fact after she'd thought about it during all of this. They probably wouldn't date anymore, since Lee made it clear that she was straight after kicking the asses of some boys who kept razing her about being a lesbian. 'Just because she didn't act like a girl didn't mean that she chased them' had more or less been what Lee had told Nosedive later at the movies.

Nosedive snuffled lightly, wiping her eyes with her shirt sleeve. She shouldn't be thinking about this, it made her remember the times in the mines and the camps, wondering about how many of her friends and family had survived and how many hadn't, even remembering all the horror stories of what happened to ducks who caught a saurian's or a traitor's eye. Her mother was (she refused to think about her in past tense) a lovely woman and many of her female friends were pretty (to Lee's annoyed acceptance).

The girl was too wrapped up in her thoughts to notice how late it was or even the few paparazzi sneakily taking pictures of her with their camera phones and/or noiseless cameras with the flash turned off. She even forgot to check back in with Tanya after the hour was up and now into its third one.

Nosedive winced at a pain in her stomach, feeling a dull ache starting to form in her head. She ignored it as more memories came to torment her, putting the ache off as the beginning of a crying headache.

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They twisted in frustration. Mother _had _loved someone before, but now they were of the same gender, so their love couldn't be the same anymore. It would still be there, but not the kind of love that would make Mother truly happy.

They shifted through a few more memories, feeling angry at their traitorous once-worshippers. How they hurt Mother and those she held dear! That mage expected them to help him after they saw this? He was lucky they didn't send another lightning bolt his way right now!

They persevered, switching from the old memories to the newer and newest ones. Maybe Mother had feelings for someone else now?

They came across a few promising ones, examining the emotions and feelings deeply so as to not make a mistake. Maybe this male was right for her….

They'd have to wait and see.

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Back at the Pond, Tanya frowned at her watch. Nosedive should have called back by now. The scientist sighed as she stepped into the elevator. Phil had already run Thrash and Mookie off but they had promised to come back tomorrow sometime to talk to their friend.

She walked into the Ready Room when the elevator stopped. The teen should have already checked in, but maybe she'd forgotten. Dive _had _looked quite upset when she left.

Entering the kitchen, Tanya was surprised to see the guys there. They looked like they'd just finished having a serious discussion of some kind.

"Hey Tanya, where's Nosedive?"

Wildwing looked at her, mask still off. When was it ever on besides battle? (1)

"I'm not sure. She mentioned something about the park, but she hasn't called in yet."

Duke sighed, getting up from the table when she said that.

"I'll go find her. Besides, we got put this plan in motion sometime right?"

Wildwing nodded grudgingly, muttering what sounded a lot like "Just watch your step, Duke." Tanya looked first curiously between the two then at Grin as Wildwing left the kitchen and Duke went to put his empty coffee cup in the sink.

"Uh, did I miss something just now?"

The gentle giant looked at her with a tired glance.

"Later, Tanya, later."

She couldn't decide what confused her more at that moment, not knowing what was going on between the three drakes or the fact that something Grin said actually made sense and was only three words long.

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The paparazzi held their breath as a second duck approached the one on the swing. He looked mildly upset about something. Many smelled a possible front pager.

They all rapidly took pictures of the scene, some cursing the lack of usable film left on the roll in their cameras.

A conversation went on between the ducks, the second (now recognized as Duke L'Orange) leaning against on of the swing set poles and the girl (Nosedive Flashblade, it had to be!) stopped her light swinging to talk.

A few more pictures were taken, some of them calling their magazine/tabloid contacts to report this. If it was handled right, this incident could gain them a raise!

Suddenly the girl got out of the swing, looking not just upset but pissed with a capital 'P'. A couple's quarrel perhaps?

She was yelling something.

"Duke, I didn't have a choice in this! How could you think of telling me to stay calm after what you just said! I can't believe you!"

There would have been more except at that moment, Duke had pulled her close to him in a hug. He seemed to be shushing her, ignoring the small fists banging on his shoulders and chest. Many paparazzi were immensely grateful for the gut instinct of having multiple cameras on hand instead of only multiple rolls of film or memory cards.

Eventually Nosedive stopped beating against him and broke down into tears against his chest. Duke quietly held on to her, obviously uncomfortable as he tried to comfort the crying teen.

This was gossip gold!

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(I was thinking about just ending it here, but then Mallory pointed out the little fact that I'd probably get many death threats from the readers, so on with the chapter!)

(What really went on at the swing-set)

"Hey Kid."

Dive glanced up.

"Hey, Duke. (She managed a small smile as he leaned against a pole) You haven't called me that in a while."

He shrugged in response. He seemed upset.

"Something wrong?"

Even though Dive didn't really feel like talking to anyone right now, she didn't want anyone to know what she'd just been thinking about. Besides, the last time Duke had been upset had been when Captain Klegghorn had threatened to arrest them on the grounds of destroying a police crime scene after one of their battles with Dragaunus had pretty much pulverized an on-site murder investigation.

"Nah, nothing much….You know that you were supposed to call and check in earlier right?"

The teen glanced at her watch, surprised at the time.

"Crap, didn't think I'd be out here that late."

"It's alright Dive, you just got to keep a better eye on the time next time."

She gave him another small smile. Duke shifted his position against the pole.

"There's something I need to tell you."

She looked up from his shoulders to his face.

"Hmm?"

"…Crap, I'm probably not the best to tell you this, but basically we decided on who's going to claim the kid after it hatches."

Nosedive felt her face crinkle in confusion and the start of anger.

"What? Who discussed it and who exactly is going to be the 'Dad', Duke?"

He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Wildwing, Grin, and I talked about it after Phil gave our Fearless Leader a heads up on some possible trouble if we didn't decide ahead of time."

"You still didn't answer all of it."

Duke really looked like he wished he wasn't here.

"We decided on me Kid."

Nosedive felt disbelief flood her body. How could they do this without telling her or asking her consent?!

"You're kidding me."

The older mallard shook his head 'No'.

"I'm serious as a mid-winter glacier Nosedive. I'm going to say the kid's mine."

She glared at him in a way that screamed 'Trouble!'

"Nosedive, just stay calm now. We can talk this out."

The teen shook her head and all but jumped out of the swing.

"Duke, I didn't have a choice in this! How could you think of telling me to stay calm after what you just said! I can't believe you!"

Duke could see paparazzi out of the corner of his eye and knew that he had to do something fast before Dive yelled out anything that could start some serious trouble.

So he pulled her close in hopes of calming her down.

"I know Dive, I know. It's not like…it's not like I like this either. "

Her fists hit him, trying to push free.

"Then why are you doing it?!"

She hissed at him, eyes already starting to fill with angry tears. He kept his voice low so only she could hear him.

"For your sake Dive. People always assume the worst in cases like this! Do you really want everyone to think the baby (deep breath) is a product of incest?"

That made her freeze, the widening of Nosedive's eyes telling Duke that she hadn't thought of that. Both Flashblades knew that their kind of sibling bond wasn't common and had gotten fan letters accusing them of it meaning something more even _before_ Dive had been turned into a girl. Humans had sick minds.

He started to rub her back soothingly in an attempt to comfort her. Her hands rested briefly on his chest before grabbing onto his shirt and Duke found himself back in that awkward situation from the Raptor. The only difference this time was that he truly didn't know what to say that would be comforting instead of being put off by a teammate's sudden sex change.

After a couple of moments, she seemed to be getting better.

"Hey, come on Dive. Let's get back to the Pond. Everyone's waiting."

She nodded, her face mostly buried in his shoulder.

With a sigh, Duke led her to the Duckcycle he'd driven to the park with and helped her on.

It was going to be a long night.

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Using Mother's language, BINGO!

They shivered in pleasure. They had found the right person for Mother! She even already had feelings for him!

All they had to do was encourage those feelings via a little magic here and there and voila! Mother would be happy!

Now, to find the right time to do said encouragement….

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(1) Remember, the ducks haven't been on Earth long so Wildwing doesn't feel that dependant on the Mask yet. Not to mention that since Canard's back, Wing's having some doubts about himself as leader…again….

Tiny: I could write more, but then it would give away too much from the next chapter. I'll make it a longer one!


	9. Chapter 9

Canard: I honestly don't see why I have to do this! Isn't it the authoress' job to open the chapter!?

Mallory: Look, Canard, we pulled straws and you lost! It's that simple, now go out there and talk to the readers! (Shoves him in front of the computer screen)

Canard: Uh, um, well, (Looks at the side for help. Tanya's arm briefly appears to hand him some note cards.) Ah, thanks! Uhhhh (flips through the cards nervously) Okay, first up, why it took TinySprite so long to write chapter nine. Um, that's not in here!

Tanya's voice: It's toward the back! Right after the fortieth apology!

Canard: Found it! (Reads card) Who wrote this?!

Tanya's voice: The authoress did…..after a binge of three straight coffee pots……

Canard: That would explain the pledge to Maxwell Coffeehouse written in…..that's not really blood is it?!

Mallory's voice: Just do it already!

Canard: Alright, alright. (Looks at the cards again then tosses them away) Forget those. Alright what happened is this: Wildwing finally caught the plot bunny for this story and tossed it into a cage with a blank one and they made _quite_ a few litters of little plot bunnies, each with a different variation of the rest of the story. After that, Chameleon accidentally, so he claims, knocked the cage over and all the plot bunnies got out. So now TinySprite's been trying to…

(The explanation is interrupted by the authoress galloping across the screen on top of a plot bunny, which is acting just like a bucking bronco.)

Tiny: Yee Hah! Ride 'em cowsprite! (Whips a little cowboy hat out of nowhere) Onward to the wild plains of lost inspiration, Fluffy Paws!

(The plot bunny jumps forward, rearing back and punching at the air with its front paws first before leaping away.)

Canard:……yeah, she's been trying to round them all up and find the original one….or one better.

Duke: (Walking up next to Canard) We would help, but we also figure that it's the least she deserves for this chapter being so late. (Pats Canard's shoulder) I'll take over the disclaimer.

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns absolutely nothing, nothing at all.

--

For two solid weeks, Nosedive ignored Wildwing like he didn't even there. It was the worst possible thing she could do and it showed.

Wildwing looked like crap and Dive's attitude wasn't helping one bit. Example, one morning Nosedive had been making coffee to go with breakfast. Wildwing, wanting to be helpful, got out a filter for her to use and held it out for his sister to take it. Not only did the teen ignore the gesture, she even walked past her brother and got out a new coffee filter like Wildwing hadn't done anything at all.

Canard had walked in a bit later to find Wildwing trying desperately to start a conversation with his sibling, only for it to go nowhere. However, once Nosedive saw Canard, she gave him a half smile and said 'Good morning', still giving Wildwing the cold shoulder.

The tan mallard just gave her a wave in return and quickly left after grabbing a cup of orange juice. Cripes, it'd been bad enough when both Flashblades had been male, but now that Nosedive wasn't, the teen had apparently developed some of her mother's abilities to completely and totally ignore people like they didn't exist at all.

By the end of the second week, Wildwing was pretty much desperate to do anything to once more have his younger sibling at least acknowledge him if nothing else. Yet the girl kept up the façade. Mallory was the first to get tired of it and pulled the blonde aside one day to have a chat with her.

"Alright Nosedive, just quit it! You're driving your brother nuts with this…this (the redhead searched for the right phrase) extreme cold shoulder treatment!"

The teen looked confused.

"Who are you talking about Mallory?"

The soldier gritted her teeth, trying to restrain from shaking the girl in front of her.

"You know exactly who I'm talking about brat! Wildwing is literally at the end of his rope worrying about you!"

Dive tilted her head to the side, seeming to try to place the name.

"Wildwing….Wildwing…..isn't he the guy that's supposed to be the team captain or something?"

The redhead stared at her. Nosedive couldn't actually have forgotten her older brother, but Mallory was still shocked at how far the other female seemed to be taking this. Just as she was about to grab the girl's shoulders to try and shake some sense into her, Dive turned and simply walked away like they hadn't been doing anything at all.

A quick glance over her shoulder told Mallory that Wildwing had just entered the hallway but hadn't seen them yet. She let out her breath in an angry grunt. Who'd have thought that Nosedive could possibly be so cruel?

The redhead mentally promised not to let the teenager get off the hook by claiming hormone influence later.

--

Mookie shuddered and sneezed almost violently, somehow managing to not drop the (heavy) box of display items. Thrash glanced over at his coworker as he closed the cash drawer, a satisfied customer murmuring 'Bless you' as he left the store with a decently bulging bag of goodies.

"You alright Mookie? Not catching a cold are ya?"

The mohawked female shook her head, accepting a napkin from Thrash to blow her nose as he took the box from her.

"Nah, I just had my doctor appointment a few days ago. I'm as healthy as I can be."

She frowned, tossing the tissue into the garbage can behind the counter at the same time as she reached for her lunch hidden back there, right behind yet another box. The teen male gave a brief grimace when she took a deep swig from a burgundy water bottle that turned out to actually be clear when Mookie drained about a fifth of it.

"Do you really have to drink that gunk?"

The girl rolled her eyes at the distaste in her coworker's voice as she refastened the lid on the bottle.

"We've been over this countless times before Thrash. You know as well as I do that I have to have at least one of these things once or twice a month. Besides (she stuck out her tongue and made a show of wiping it off with another napkin that she swiped out of Thrash's Wiener World take out bag.) it tastes too bitter for me to enjoy it and it's not like you can talk Mr. –"

Whatever she was about to say was cut off sharply by a warning growl from Thrash. Mookie stayed quiet, knowing this was a touchy subject at best, before she noticed that he wasn't looking at her but out towards the front of the shop.

Following his line of sight, Mookie saw a blonde teen girl dressed a lot like a boy in a baggy shirt (the partially noticeable bump in the chest area clarified the gender), somewhat baggy, old blue jeans and a backwards baseball cap on her head frowning at the doorway. It took the purple haired teen a moment to realize that the 'frown' was actually the girl's natural reaction to the blaring sunlight most likely glaring back into her eyes from the store windows, emphasized when she lifted a tanned hand to shield her eyes and better look into the store.

"I hope she doesn't come in here."

Mookie looked sharply at Thrash, ready to scold him when it hit her, an unnaturally cold wave of chills. Something made her look back at the girl, who was obviously trying to decide whether or not to enter. A few tense moments passed before the outside female simply shrugged and walked away, going instead into a clothes shop across the way and down a store or two.

Both teens looked at each other, the brunette male the first to break the tense silence.

"You felt it too, don't deny it."

Mookie nodded reluctantly, almost hating the action. Some days were harder than others. Thrash continued on,

"That girl….something about her just screams trouble…."

His coworker once more forced herself to nod to show her agreement. One also tanned hand came up to rub her jaw, to ease the sudden pain there.

"Cripes, I haven't felt like this since that cousin of yours slipped that stuff into our drinks…"

"You know she's still sorry about that….."

Both knew that that was most likely a lie, but would be hard pressed to prove it true. Without a word, Thrash left to go to the back to calm down. Mookie said nothing, just leaned against the counter side and sipped her 'lunch' again, giving the image of the bored employee while trying to calm her raising heart and sudden adrenaline rush.

She really hated this stuff. If only it wasn't so necessary…..

--

Deep inside Mother, they moved. Intruders were near, not in Mother's home but still close, probably in this…city, that's what this was called?

'Barely bigger than a town in our days…..'

A sudden thought hit them. They had to warn Mother! But how…….after all, they weren't even sure if the intruders were actually a threat yet.

All they were certain of was that there were more out there……more like themselves…….This couldn't be good……

--

Canard: (shrugs again) Sorry, it's all we could get her to do before she ran off with a lasso after a stray plot bunny….

Dragaunus: I'm only saying this one more time…._I better be getting a better part soon or else!_

(Hey guys, by the way, I've started another story for a cartoon series called 'Dragon Flyz' but there's no category and I don't want to put it in misc. cartoons. So how would I go about getting a category started?)


	10. Chapter 10

Duke: (Walks up to the screen and gives a slight wave to the readers) Hey, everyone alright? Good. Now for this month's excuse on why TinySprite was late on the chapter….

(The readers can _just_ see Tanya roll a projector into place before playing it. Duke pulls out a collapsible rod to use as a pointer.)

Duke: Alright so what happened is this, (points with rod at a projection of the authoress hunched over an art book) she may not have mentioned this in her bio, but TinySprite's inspiration comes and goes for both writing _**and**_ drawing. Lately she's been on a drawing streak….not to mention the plot bunnies got sick with some unmentionable fever….

Tanya: (Attempts to stifle giggles while changing the pictures to show one of a plot bunny tucked into bed, a little ice pack on its head, a thermometer in its mouth and a copy of a yaoi manga opened before it.)

Duke: (Slightly red now and feathers partially ruffled) Needless to say, our contract with the authoress _**does not**_ cover that kind of material.

(Before Duke can continue further, Phil pokes his head into the room, looking extremely confused as one hand covers his opened cell phone, a squeaky voice announcing a client on the other end.)

Phil: (To the person on the cell) Hold on one second Babe. (To Duke) Contract? What contract are you talking about?

(Duke and Tanya both look at him, stunned. Phil not knowing about a contract that dealt with the Mighty Ducks?! It was unheard of!)

Duke: You know, that contract you made with that crazy authoress TinySprite for her to use us to do this story? Which by the way, you owe us for.

Phil: (Still confused) Guys, I never signed a contract with that girl! She said you all agreed willingly to it.

Duke: What?! (Snaps rod between his hands in anger)

TinySprite: (Popping in out of no where) Oh look at that, time for the disclaimer!

**Disclaimer: **TinySprite owns nothing of the Mighty Ducks beyond the plot and any OCs.

--

Dragaunus watched carefully as Wraith directed a small group of about a dozen drones, pointing a few in one direction before checking a list and pointing the rest in another. The spell castor muttered something before turning back to halfway face his lord.

"With any luck, we should have all the needed materials by tomorrow, Lord Dragaunus. Then the carrier will once more be in our possession."

The Saurian overlord made a small show of sharpening his claw-like nails against a nearby tree trunk, a testament to his dangerously low patience.

"This had better work Wraith. You've had us jumping around the world for days now. The ship's power supply is only so high."

During the last few weeks, the old Saurian had had them visit at least five different spots on the globe, each quite far apart being on a different continent. Wraith shrugged nonchalantly, hand going down to stroke the bag at his side, feeling the slight tingle from the power of the objects inside.

"Trust me, my Lord, it'll all be worth it in the end."

The red skinned alien glared at Wraith from the corner of his eye, the rest of his gaze on a few drones carefully pulling a tree stump apart while another one searched its contents. He could already see rust starting to form on one or two from the humidity. Pity for that, the rain forest's climate was such a nice change; this lovely wet heat from Anaheim's dry one.

"And how do I know that? She got away from you before. What's to stop her from doing it again?"

The oldest Saurian of the group tightened his grip on his staff, trying to hold back the anger building up inside.

'Remember what is owed Wraith, remember what is owed.'

With that mantra going around and around in his head, the spell castor turned to fully face his master.

"Because, Lord Dragaunus, if I do this right, then the girl will come to us instead of the other way around."

--

Wildwing frowned at Drake One's read out, shaking his head slightly.

"Are you sure about this Tanya? No way there could be a mistake?"

The blonde scientist nodded, a little miffed that anyone would dare question the computer's accuracy but it was understandable given the conditions. Canard took the data sheet from Wildwing, frowning and shaking his head as well at what it revealed.

"It doesn't seem right. Why would Dragaunus go to so many places only to then leave for another without causing much trouble?"

Wildwing frowned with him, trying to piece together a theory. It couldn't be about Balarium crystals (1), they'd never stayed in one area long enough to properly dig for them and besides, only one area (a mountain in northern China) had had the proper conditions for crystals at all.

Nonetheless, he decided to venture a guess.

"Maybe they're trying to find a new power source…or could they've already found one but need more of it in order for it to work?"

Tanya seemed thoughtful about that, as did Canard.

"I'll run a check on each area, you know, see if I can't find any similarities or something."

A loud 'Crash' disrupted whatever else might have gone on. Shouting following that, not to mention Phil suddenly shooting out of a hallway at a dead run for the elevator like his life depended on it, made all three of the avians sigh in exasperation.

Mallory, who did a kind of shoulder roll out of the same hallway, barely avoided getting smashed in the back with a vase….where had that come from?

The redhead looked over at Drake One, shouting before truly noticing who all was there.

"Tanya, do you know where Wildwing is?! We need him now!"

The older Flashblade sighed, rubbing his forehead as he walked forward and climbed down from Drake One's platform. He approached Mallory at an angle, careful to keep out of the line of sight of the hallway. The drake raised a tired eyebrow at how the soldier had positioned herself against the wall next to the hallway entrance, hands down at her hip as if holding a weapon.

"What is it this time, Mallory?"

She seemed surprised to see him there so fast, then gave herself a light shake before answering.

"Phil tried to get Nosedive to agree to an interview tomorrow but she won't listen to him. I don't know all the details but I do know that I got caught in the crossfire."

By now the fat manager had taken refuge as best he could behind Grin, seeing as the elevator wasn't responding at the moment. Another object flew out of the hallway, a bright green pillow that Wildwing hadn't seen before.

He quickly swiped it up, motioning with it to Mallory who shook her head and shrugged her shoulders in confusion. Wildwing waved the pillow at Tanya and Canard, the same questioning looks on their faces as well. Grin also shook his head in denial of ownership while at the same time pulling Phil out from behind him.

Wildwing held the pillow at his side with a sigh. That mystery could wait a minute; right now he needed to know what Phil had done.

"Phil, care to explain?"

The brunette shrugged a little too quickly, eyeing the opening of the hallway as if a monster were about to charge out of it.

"I finally found a teen magazine that had a reasonable interview request for Nosedive. I just wanted to see if she'd go for it tomorrow because, except for today of next week, that's the only time they have to do it before the next issue comes out."

The white feathered mallard put a hand to his face, wondering if he should just go ahead and invest in some stock with Tylenol.

"You didn't think to come to me first?"

Phil gave Wildwing a half hearted glare, trying to edge his way to the elevator doors again.

"I thought you'd be with her! How was I supposed to know that this was one of the few times you weren't?!"

During this conversation, Tanya frowned to herself, thinking. Another pillow had been thrown into the Ready Room (this one a funky shade of yellow-orange), Nosedive had been unusually aggressive towards both Phil and Mallory when usually the teen 'tunnel visioned' on the source of her anger (Phil, in this case), along with the unknown green pillow and the new one. Something tugged at her memory….something she'd learned in an extra credit medical class….uh oh…….

Tanya gave a funny noise, going a little pale while at the same time a touch of red, quite an interesting combination on her peachy plumage.

"Phil, this is important, was Nosedive doing anything when you talked to her? Like going through a large pile of sheets or pillows or even both?"

Their manager craned his head to look up at Tanya, some curiosity on his face now that most of his panic had dropped a level or two.

"Well, now that you mention it, she was. Had a huge pile of pillows on her bed and a bigger one of sheets on the floor. Looked like Nosedive was trying to rip a couple of the bigger sheets up too……Why?"

Nervousness edged his voice. What else could there be to Puckworlder reproduction that threatened his well-being?

All the other ducks groaned loudly, Mallory lightly banging her head against the wall, Canard covering his face with both hands, Tanya looking uncertainly at Wildwing and halfway out of her seat, Wildwing had the pillow over his face and seemed to be attempting to smother himself and Grin just shook his head, a half-fond half-fearful smile on his beak.

Grin was actually the one who finally answered him,

"Nesting."

"…Huh?"

Phil gave the gentle giant a dumbfounded look, which Grin returned before remembering something.

"That's right, humans don't lay eggs…."

The human shook his head, secretly loving that fact. He didn't think he could deal with it if human women actually did….

"When avian women are carrying, around the second month they begin to get the urge to create a safe place for their new young."

Phil stared back at Grin for a minute before turning to Tanya.

"In regular words please?"

Still eyeing Wildwing, the scientist more or less summed it up for the man.

"Nosedive is just about two months along now. Her nesting instincts are, uh, beginning to kick in, meaning that she's trying to make one."

Phil blinked once, then twice before it finally clicked.

"You mean to tell me that Nosedive is actually attempting to build a nest in her _bedroom_?"

Canard nodded, finally looking up.

"Yeah, she is. Don't go near there for at least another week."

"Bu-but the interview! If we don't get that done soon, it'll take too long to get another one set up! Who knows what could happen until then?!"

Everyone turned to the elevator as its doors 'hissed' opened to release its passenger. Duke had picked the damnedest time to walk in on that conversation. He looked around, clearly caught off guard.

"What's this about an interview? And what's going on here?"

His cyborg eye seemed to widen its red pinpoint briefly, making Tanya wonder yet again if the device needed an adjustment period when exposed to different lighting. Oh how she'd love to examine it, but didn't have the courage to ask questions, seeing as it was most likely related to his time in the Brotherhood of the Blade. She'd even heard rumors that he'd gotten the injury necessary for such a transplant during his initiation battle to be the leader of the gang.

Mallory partially groaned out an answer,

"The brat's nesting."

Duke paled. Phil became curious as to whether the oldest avian was reacting like the others or worse because he was supposed to be the 'dad'.

"You're not serious, are ya, Mal?"

The dark-feathered mallard had started backtracking to the elevator, looking nervous. Apparently he'd already been doomed, probably since he'd first walked in, as a blur of peach, yellow, blue and teal zipped out of the hallway only to barely stop in front of him.

"Duke you're back! Come on, I've got something to show you."

Nosedive's hand held onto Duke's arm much like how a bird of prey would cling to some fresh kill as the teen dragged him back down the hallway, snatching up both pillows with her free hand on the way. Wildwing seemed surprised when the pillow in his hands was plucked away instead of ignored. Maybe Dive was finally starting to forgive him?

Duke looked at the others for help, only to see Phil running up to him. The manager simply stuffed a few papers into the avian's hand before hurriedly backing off, eyeing Nosedive the whole time. Apparently the brunette had yet again gotten on her bad side….

Tanya sighed as the two vanished from view, going back to the console and crouching down to rummage through one of the bottom drawers. She stood up a moment later with a wad of what looked like take out menus in her right hand.

"So, who wants Chinese for dinner?"

-- (With Duke and Nosedive) -- (A/N: Hey, go easy on me if I get something wrong about Nosedive's room, it's been a while since I've seen it.)

Duke winced at the pain in his shoulder from being dragged so forcefully down the hall. Dive _really_ needed to learn her own hormonal strength one of these days.

"So, Kid, what was all that about back there?"

She shrugged, stuffing the pillows between her knees in order to use her free hand to type in the code to her room. As soon as the door opened, Nosedive retrieved the pillows before continuing in with Duke unwillingly right behind her.

"Phil was bugging me again, something about an interview. I guess he couldn't see I was busy already."

And busy she had been. The once messy-turned-spotless room was once again a hazard zone, with some differences. The room had been built kind of like an 'L', Duke wasn't sure why but simply assumed that Dive had wanted it that way when the base was being built. He did know that the larger part of the 'L' was where Nosedive kept most of her stuff.

Previously it'd contained a couch, entertainment center, some workout equipment, a pool table, a couple video game systems and random teenager mess. Now, Duke felt his eyebrows lift up at the sight, concern sparking through him, though he wasn't clearly sure why.

"Nosedive, you should have asked someone for help. You know you're not supposed to strain yourself, Tanya's orders."

The reason he'd said that? The pool table had been shoved to a far corner to make room with several boxes placed in front of it. The video game systems and their respective games had been piled onto the pool table, some random hockey gear (pads and a hockey stick) were leaning against a stack of big boxes and Duke couldn't see the work out equipment anywhere; either it was stuffed under the pool table or Dive had gotten rid of it, he didn't know.

The teenager shrugged, not looking at him with her head tilted to the side as if embarrassed. Then they got to the smaller part of the 'L', stepping over random pillows and other boxes (Duke seriously wondered where she'd gotten them from) along the way, where Nosedive's bunk bed was and where the teen usually kept her comic book collection, along with the closet.

The older drake was surprised to find that the blonde had maneuvered her couch into such a place that it more or less blocked that part of the room off from the rest. The teenager began to climb over the back of it, but once she started to wobble, Duke sighed and put a hand on her back, gently pulling the girl down onto the couch cushions.

She let go of his arm (finally), allowing Duke to go over first. He then helped steady her as Dive climbed over, one of her hands on his shoulder, the other on his bicep while he had his hands just about waist level. No use making it seem like he cared more than he did or letting her get hurt when he could have prevented it. That was all he needed on top of all this, a reason for Wildwing to be out for his blood.

If the front of the room had been a surprise, then this part outdid it. Dive's bed was lost amid a sea of pillows, ranging from large to small, though all were very plump with stuffing and looked comfy. The area underneath the bunk was occupied by even _more_ boxes, at least half of them hidden under a jumbled mass of sheets and blankets.

The rest of the floor was covered in pillows, blankets, and sheets, all arranged in a rough circular shape. Duke let out a soft whistle at that, pushing back nerves as he turned to face Dive once again. He nearly jumped clear to the ceiling when he saw that she was on her knees in front of him, hands starting to reach forward.

"_**Nosedive**_!"

She looked up at him, clearly startled.

"What?! I can't want my nest to stay clean?!"

Duke was confused until he realized that her hands were angled to reach for his boot latches, not his zipper as he'd previously thought. Okay, so she wasn't having _those_ urges yet, thank the Stars. He breathed out a sigh of relief before sitting down to remove his boots.

"You could have just said something you know."

"I thought you noticed already, but didn't get the hint."

He looked at his teammate only to then notice that Nosedive was sitting Indian style, revealing that she wasn't wearing shoes but instead simply a pair of socks. Duke pulled off his left boot while eyeing her to make sure Dive didn't try anything else.

The teen was clothed in a pair of slightly loose blue jeans and a teal short sleeved t-shirt. If it wasn't for the curve in the chest area, Nosedive could almost pass for a boy again.

Once Duke had both boots off, the teen just motioned for him to toss them over the couch, which the other did with a shrug, making sure they wouldn't trip over them on their way back over the couch.

The one-eyed mallard jumped a little when Dive leaned forward to push him onto his back. Maybe he'd been wrong about her not having certain urges yet…

"Nosedive, no."

He gripped her hands, looking sternly into her eyes only to see puzzlement and irritation.

"No what Duke?"

The older male sighed. He really did not want to deal with this…

"Dive, no, alright? I know that I agreed to claim being the father, but I'm not going to do stuff to you. Do you understand me?"

"Duke, what the hell do you….oh, _oh…_..You're an idiot."

She freed one of her hands and popped Duke on the side of his head, before using it to motion at the grouping of items on the floor.

"I want you to help me with _building_ the nest, not…….not _breaking_ it in."

He almost smiled at the blaze of red that sprung onto her face, as she grabbed a halfway torn blanket and began finishing the tear, yanking her other hand free from his grip to do so. Still, he needed to clear some things up…

"So why did you try to push me back?"

Nosedive shrugged, muttering like it was common sense (kind of was actually),

"Well, you need to lie down in a nest to make sure it's comfy right?"

He shook his head, about to offer her a small blade to help with the ripping only to reconsider the logic of giving a hormonal female a sharp object. Instead, Duke gently took one end from her and helped that way.

About three blankets, four sheets and maybe fourteen to sixteen pillows later, Duke had to know,

"Hey, Kid?"

"Yeah?"

She glanced at him over her shoulder; arms buried up to the elbows in yet another box.

"Where did you get all this stuff anyway?"

"Oh, that, from the warehouse out back."

Duke stared at her and it had to be comical because Nosedive broke out into a smile with a slight giggle.

"Kidding, kidding. But seriously, I did get them from a warehouse. Remember back to about the fifth week we were on Earth when Phil made us do those commercials for all those department stores?"

The dark-plumed male couldn't help but shudder slightly.

"Yeah, they cheated us too."

He was surprised to see Nosedive shaking her head.

"Nope, we didn't fully read the contract and I guess Phil didn't either. Anyway, part of our pay was with gift certificates. I simply used mine to buy all this and they let me get a deal on it since I bought in bulk, meaning I got more."

"And the warehouse thing?"

"Oh, that's where I arranged to pick the stuff up from. They were really understanding about it."

Duke nodded slowly, making a few connections.

"So that's where you were all day yesterday? Out getting….nest supplies?"

Dive bit back a laugh at Duke's choice of words, true as they were. She nodded in agreement, pulling a cushion out of the box in front of her. She rubbed a hand over it, wondering if the sewn on design of wild flowers would be too itchy.

Speaking of commercials, it reminded Duke of the papers that Phil had given him. The mallard pulled them out of his back pocket where he'd shoved them for 'safe keeping'. A quick skim told him all he needed to know. Now, how to convince Nosedive….

"You know, Dive, I bet you get bored in here all day."

The teen nodded vigorously, putting the wild flower patterned pillow behind her in the 'Keep' pile before reaching in for another.

"What if, say, you got the chance to leave here for a few hours? Nothing big really, just to get out and walk around Anaheim for a bit."

Nosedive lowered the velvety pillow in her hands to her lap, eyeing Duke suspiciously. What was he up to?

"Duke, what are you getting at?"

The mallard gave her a partial shrug, seemingly interested in a soft blue small blanket. He held it out to her for inspection, waiting until Nosedive had taken it before continuing on.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you know already, but Phil had arranged for you to do an interview tomorrow."

"I'm not going."

He looked at her, shifting his weight to turn around fully. Dive kept her back to him.

"Why not?"

"I've got more important things to do."

A peach-plumed hand waved at the slightly more nest-like creation on the floor to indicate her more worthy business than whatever Phil could cook up.

"So you don't care that you get to do this one solo?"

That got her attention, making Nosedive practically spin around to look at him full on. She was still suspicious though.

"Yeah, and then it's straight back to the Pond. Wildwing wouldn't let me be alone for longer than ten seconds, let alone the few hours it's gonna need to do that interview."

Duke shrugged, remaining calm outside while frantically fishing for something else on the inside. Finally, an idea presented itself.

"Or I could see if, maybe once you're done with the interview, I can swing you by Captain Comics."

Nosedive's eyes lit up, eagerness in her voice.

"Really? No joke?"

It'd be a while since she'd been allowed to go there or anywhere for that manner since the incident at the park, honestly, couldn't they just drop it already?! Besides, her comic collection was in sad need of some new ones.

Duke nodded with a slight smile on his beak even as he wondered how the hell he was going to convince Wildwing to allow him to do this. Wait, Nosedive had just said her older brother's name…meaning that she was beginning to acknowledge him again. Wildwing would be happy to do anything to encourage Dive to no longer be mad at him, though part of Duke (had to be the conscious) felt guilty at somewhat using the mallard like that.

He wasn't expecting Nosedive to suddenly pounce on him. She'd wrapped her arms tight around his shoulders in a hug, (possibly) unknowingly squishing her chest against his. Because Duke had no warning to brace himself, they both ended up falling back into the nest, partially crumpling one small section of 'wall'.

It didn't help that, not only had Nosedive held onto him, she apparently found it funny that they'd fallen backward and laughed lightly. Not a problem normally, except a certain area kind of carried the vibrations of her laughter and Duke's experienced hands on her back (placed there by instinct when Dive's body had collided with his) more or less told him that she was bra-less.

Nor did the fact that her body was on top of his, allowing him to feel her warmth against him. Duke hurriedly sat up, still holding onto Dive only to find out that that made it worse, since he'd pretty much pulled her into his lap. Damnit, couldn't an ex-thief catch a break?!

Apparently not since his body had already begun to respond to the fact that he hadn't been with a woman in months. Shit, and he couldn't just shove Nosedive off without her getting angry and **that **was the last thing he needed right now.

Dive blinked, wondering why Duke was acting so weird. Yeah, they'd fallen backwards but it wasn't that much of a big deal. Her blue eyes spied a destroyed part of the nest. Was that what had gotten Duke so riled up? It wasn't like they couldn't repair it.

Suddenly, without really knowing why, the teenager yawned. Exhaustion began to overtake her, making Nosedive remember that she'd stayed up late last night, actually she wasn't even sure she'd gotten any sleep at all, trying to decide what to use for the nest's foundation.

She laid back down, pulling Duke down with her. It seemed colder in here for some reason and he was warm. The teen nuzzled his shoulder with her cheek, getting comfy in the nest.

"Nosedive, I've got to go now."

Why was his voice strained?

"Why?"

He hesitated, not wanting to tell the teenager the truth.

"I've got things to do."

Dive shook her head, pulling Duke close again when he started to pull away.

"Don't go, not yet."

"Nosedive…"

"At least wait until I go to sleep. Please?"

Duke hesitated yet again, before giving in with a sigh. He placed himself next to the teen, praying she wouldn't notice a certain 'problem' he currently had. She seemed pretty tired anyway. He'd be able to leave in a few minutes, if not less.

'Cold shower, cold shower, cold shower, cold shower makes everything better."

Even repeating that over and over in his head, Duke knew that wasn't exactly true.

--

They felt proud with themselves. Mother had done most of this by herself, their help only coming in at the last few minutes.

Though they weren't exactly sure about the male's intentions towards her, at least he was being honorable about them instead of trying to trick Mother into doing bad things.

They shuddered in glee, eagerly awaiting their next chance to help Mother.

--

Damn, barely in California a week and already things were crap.

The job interview about a waitress position she'd been promised today had been canceled, without anyone calling to tell her of course. The owner had passed her over for the head cook's adorable sixteen year old niece, whose entire world consisted of a makeup mirror, a makeup kit, and whatever hunk who was within ten feet of her.

She wiped a hand across her forehead, really wishing she'd just gone casual with her blue jeans, baggy shirt, hat and comfortable old sneakers instead of dressing up in a calf length light blue skirt, a white tank top and itchy sandals with her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail.

The girl strode into a small store, not really paying attention to it or the wares until the unmistakable smell of a pet store assailed her nose. Blinking, she silently cursed as she found herself in front of the reptile cages. Well, since she was here, it'd be rude not to look….

Leaning forward to peer into one glass tank, her eyes caught a sight of the price tag. The amount made her blink. Slowly standing up, the girl looked at the other prices, each one seeming to get higher and higher. Her eyes automatically flicked to the scaled creatures inside the tanks, scanning them over.

Yep, they were worth that price and for a few of them, so much more. Double damn, this was one of those expensive pet shops, the kind that dealt with exotic and/or rare pets. Well, there went her hopes of restarting her collection……

Shouting made her jump. Had someone figured out she didn't have the money for any of these amazing reptiles and were about to throw her out? She quickly chided herself on that brief bit of stupidity. In these kinds of stores, they usually buttered a customer up until they bought something so far out of their price range that they had to take loans from the bank.

Curiosity, something she'd always had been told would get her into enormous trouble, made her slip towards the noise.

"You promised me a breeding pair last year! These snakes don't even look at each other!"

An overly fat, well dressed business man was tormenting a thinner, shivering man.

"Sir, we told you that if you had any problems to call the store and we'd see what we could do about it."

"I'm still under my warranty aren't I?"

The man nodded, fumbling with a pair of reading glasses out of his shirt pocket.

Oh, a dissatisfied customer, how boring. What really interested her were the snakes. The girl crept closer, neither man noticing her as they were too deeply involved with their 'business'. Unable to help herself, the blonde quietly popped the lid off the carrying box the snakes were in and stuck her hand in.

Automatically, both snakes went for her palm, bopping it with their heads as if to kiss it hello. With a light giggle, she lifted first one out, then the other; one snake for each hand. They happily curled about her wrists, seeming to take an interest in her.

Something about them made her frown at first then smile. Without thinking, she turned to the business man and promptly said,

"Sir, these snakes aren't breeding because they're too young. Give them another few months or so and then you'll have a batch of eggs to be proud of."

The men turned to look at her, both staring. The girl caught herself and immediately wished she hadn't done that. When would she learn to keep her big mouth shut?!

Thankfully, the skinny man took over before the fat one could,

"As you see, Mr. Reeves, our young expert here has identified your problem. Just do like she says, and if they haven't reproduced by the end of the year, we'll take them back and fully refund your money."

"My warranty –"

"Is still good until this time next year sir."

The skinny man nodded at her. She got the hint and promptly put the two snakes back, lightly pushing their smooth coils off her hands when they refused to do so by themselves. At least by now she'd had enough practice to know to make it look simply like she was being extra careful.

Mr. Reeves stayed for a minute, still attempting to make a fuss before finally leaving, taking the snakes with him while walking in such a way as to suggest a wounded pride.

The skinny man turned to look at her, eyeing her up and down. She turned red and made to leave. A hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"How did you know that the snakes were too young?"

She shrugged, wishing to melt into the floor as she answered,

"Like you said, I'm sort of an expert when it comes to snakes."

"This isn't how you normally are is it?"

"Sir?"

He motioned at her outfit.

"You don't dress like someone who handles snakes a lot."

She shrugged again, thinking longingly of the doorway,

"I had a job interview today, but it was canceled unexpectedly."

The man nodded briefly, seeming to think about something.

"Age, name, and current occupation?"

"Huh?"

The man smiled, mischief in his eyes.

"Huh is a weird name."

"Oh! Seventeen, Theo McThompson, seeking work."

He nodded again, finally letting go of her shoulder.

"I'm Samuel Hosned, owner of this store. Just call me Sam. Come back tomorrow and dress comfortably."

With that, she was shooed out the door, wondering what the hell that had been about.

--

(1) Did I spell that right? For some reason, I can't seem to find it anywhere...

TinySprite: (Whistles) Twelve pages?! Seemed a lot less when I was typing it…

Dragaunus:…..At least I got a part this time……

Tiny: Uh, need to ask for help here. What kind of questions should Nosedive be asked in her interview? I've got a general idea but it'd be nice to get a wider variety.


	11. Chapter 11

(The readers can see the authoress, dressed all in black, attempting to sneak out a window while Duke and Wildwing are angrily searching for her in the background. However, the silly girl has a cassette player on her hip that's playing the Pink Panther's song on repeat. It's only a matter of time…………)

Tanya: (Steps into view) Um, hi, uh, as you can see, it's kinda hectic around here right now. But at least she's got something out right? (No response, only grumpy and waiting glares) Well, let's move on now…….

Mallory: It can't already be my turn for this!

Siege: Oh boo hoo, just do it already!

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of the Mighty Ducks what so ever. Still doesn't stop Phil from trying to find something he can sue her for though and we wish him luck!

--

Duke parked the duck-cycle next to an 'employees only' exit to the building. He was still surprised that Wildwing had agreed to any of this, but then again, Nosedive proved to be the one controlling the strings with her little 'sad puppy' act.

-Flashback!-

_Wildwing shook his head, "No Duke, no way."_

_The ex-thief sighed, just barely stopping himself from rubbing his forehead, "Wildwing, c'mon. It's the only way Nosedive will agree to do the interview. Besides, it's only this once."_

_The leader shook his head again, "Duke, I said no and that's exactly what I mean. Dragaunus has been too quiet recently and something about this doesn't feel right. I'll let her go if Grin and Mallory come with you."_

_Duke crossed his arms, trying to keep from snapping at the younger avian. His patience was already wearing thin from having to deal with Nosedive earlier._

_"Wildwing, we both know Nosedive won't agree to that and it's just to Captain Comics! We'll be back to the Pond before nightfall!"_

_The white feathered mallard was about to continue on when a pair of peach feathered arms hugged him around the neck from behind. Both males were surprised to find that it was actually Nosedive who was doing that, Wildwing more so._

_"Um, Dive?"_

_The teen smiled up at her older brother, "Hey, Wing. Just wanted to say 'thank you' in advance! I mean, I haven't been out to the mall in so long and that you're letting me go with just Duke is an improvement!"_

_Blue eyes blinked before looking back up into Wildwing's dark ones, slightly hesitant._

_"You did agree to it, didn't you?"_

_Stuck for words, the older avian could only nod. Dive brightly smiled again, only for it to fall when Wildwing found his voice and said,_

_"But Grin and Mallory are going too."_

_The teen let go of her brother and stepped back, head tilted down and slightly to the side as her left hand came up to somewhat rub at her right elbow. Disappointment was badly concealed in her next words,_

_"Oh, okay. I see…."_

_Wildwing seemed to immediately regret his words._

_"Dive, it's not like that. I mean-"_

_Nosedive cut him off softly,_

_"No, no. It's alright, Wing, honest. I mean, I am a teenager so it's to be expected that you wouldn't trust me…."_

_The taller drake was quick to respond,_

_"Listen to me Dive, it's not like that at all! I do trust you, it's just that with the absence of attacks from the saurians, I don't feel safe letting you go out without adequate protection."_

_"But in the end, doesn't that still mean that you don't trust me?" She seemed ready to go on only to stop herself and shake her head. "You know what Wing? Just forget it, it doesn't matter….."_

_Nosedive turned to walk away, looking more dejected than ever. Duke, who'd caught on to what Dive was doing, wisely kept his beak shut when Wildwing sighed and stepped forward to place a hand on his sister's shoulder._

_"Nosedive, I do trust you alright? Please believe me on that."_

_Dive turned to look at him over her shoulder,_

_"Then you'll let me go alone with Duke? It's just a couple hours, not like we're going on tour across the city."_

_Wildwing gnawed on the inside of his cheek, still unsure about this. Dive saw her chance to push a little further and took it,_

_"I promise to check in with you after the interview's done and at least once an hour after that until we get back."_

_It wasn't really that, though it did go a bit of a way to soothing Wing's nerves, as much as the hopeful look in her eyes that made Wildwing cave in. He sighed, not liking it even as he said,_

_"Alright, you can go with just Duke." He turned her around and pulled her into a light hug, for reassurance. "But make sure to call me."_

_Nosedive returned the hug happily,_

_"Don't worry, bro, I will!"_

-End flashback-

Duke shuddered at the thought of how that conversation could have gone had Wildwing walked into Nosedive's room and found the two of them in the nest together. Thankfully, Duke had been out of her room way before anything like that could happen. He quickly gave the ally a once over, making sure it was clear before returning to the duck-cycle.

The dark-feathered mallard sighed as he got comfortable on the vehicle's seat. They had agreed to use this exit as a way to get a bit more privacy. The paparazzi had been going rabid lately since pictures had been popping up of him holding Nosedive in the park.

Not to mention the loads of fan mail the team had received in response to either the photos themselves or the attached articles for the pictures speculating on a possible romance. Mostly just questions trying to verify if it was true and if it was, then how long had it been going on, blah blah blah, there had been some threatening ones in there.

Those mainly dealt with Duke, calling him a 'pedophile' and other, less flattering things. Nosedive herself had received some letters as well, condemning her for going out with an older man………..except for one letter that shall never be mentioned again that had asked not only if she was really hooked up with Duke, but continued on by asking questions about how avians did romance, even going so far as to include thought up details that made even Duke blink and had prompted Wildwing to burn it in Phil's office trashcan before throwing the ashes away in a garbage bag.

Shaking his head to clear it, Duke checked his watch. Nosedive should be out any minute now, if the interviewer kept to the schedule. If not, he had a good ten to twenty minutes to wait out. Eh, why chance it? Besides, it wasn't like he had anything pressing to do right then and Wildwing would have his feathers for pillow stuffing if Nosedive was left alone in an ally for any length of time.

He let out another sigh, wondering what they should do for lunch. Hopefully not tacos, he hadn't been able to even look at them lately thanks to a video he'd seen on the internet. It still shocked the avians how disturbing and/or disgusting some parts of human humor was…………..though some of the videos of people falling off random objects were good for a chuckle or two…….

A noise from behind him made Duke turn to look. He'd probably should have better checked this place out when he first got here. Well, he hadn't then so had to now. Stars, he was getting lazy. Time was he would have done a more thorough job, despite the obvious lack of hiding spots. Carefully climbing off the duck-cycle, Duke patted his bicep to make sure his saber was there while disguising the motion as a move to smooth out a few wrinkles from his coat.

He carefully walked over to the location of the sound; a few trash cans placed against the garbage dumpster. He made sure to keep one eye on the ally's entrance and exit points at all times. Coming up to his destination, Duke briefly risked an ambush by focusing his full attention on the trash cans, giving them a quick once over with his experienced gaze. Nope, nothing here beyond a nasty stench and rotting pizza leftovers.

A different sound came up, this time behind the dumpster. Duke looked at the container, trying to gauge its distance from the brick wall behind it. Yep, it was about big enough for someone to hide in if they didn't mind a slight squeeze. He glanced back behind him to make sure the ally was still clear before making his next move.

Holding his breath, the ex-thief carefully sidestepped the trash cans to get closer before ducking down to look into the possible hiding space. A thin ally cat glared up at him, the remains of an ally rat before it. The duck relaxed his stance a bit, feeling slightly disappointed with himself for getting so worked up over nothing. He conveniently ignored the part of his mind that argued it could have been something more as he made to step back to return to the duck-cycle.

Only, he never got that far. The ally cat came up after him, meowing once before launching itself at his chest and latching on with its sharp claws. Duke swore and tried to swat it off, only now noticing the odd discoloration spots on the feline's paws, almost like…………..

Something smashed him in the back of the head before Duke could complete that thought. He gave out a small groan before dropping to the ground, unconscious. The cat leapt away before it could receive any damage itself, already shifting in midair to land on the ground again as the saurian Chameleon.

Siege snorted as he gave his fingers a quick flex before reaching down and grabbing the fallen avian. Chameleon held up a hand to stop him for a few quick seconds before nodding and shifting to look like Duke as he was right then, in his street clothes.

The larger orange saurian rolled his eyes before dragging Duke back to the dumpster and shoving him none too gently into the space there. Chameleon sighed to himself before going to the duck-cycle to wait while Siege disappeared back into another ally. They'd transport the other avian later; right now they had to focus on the girl.

Honestly, did the ducks think that they didn't have internet? The news of Nosedive's 'exclusive' interview was all over several sites and it'd only been a matter of some quick plan changing to do this instead of Wraith's spell.

It wasn't the shape shifter's fault that the drones hadn't been able to find that last piece for his spell in time. This in itself had been a lucky break. All Chameleon had to do was act his part and the rest should be easy enough. Siege was only there to help out if things went sour.

He'd just gotten to the vehicle when the door opened up to admit the very teenager they'd been waiting for. He shivered a little at the thought of what could have happened if she'd been just about ten seconds earlier. They'd all seen the damage done to Wraith's arm and he didn't even want to think about what that deity could do now, since it should be more used to its current container.

She walked up to him with a smile, which he returned, a little unsure of how to continue on from here. Maybe he could play it cool…………

"So, where to first Duke?"

He was so screwed. Quick think of something………..

'Duke' shrugged, replying,

"Not sure, you got anywhere in mind right now?"

Nosedive frowned a bit as she reached for the extra helmet in its side compartment.

"Hmm, I really want to go to Captain Comics…but my stomach is practically about to eat itself……….tacos sound good?"

The shape shifter shrugged, glad it seemed to be working so far.

"Yeah, they do. Hop on and let's go."

Dive rolled her eyes before getting on behind him, her hands holding onto his sides for support. Chameleon gulped but kept on going, remembering a place he'd eaten at once in the Anaheim mall that served some great tacos. Moe's, he was pretty sure that was the name of the place.

--

Theo sighed happily to herself as she walked into the restaurant. It turned out that Sam was a little understaffed at the moment and after seeing how comfortable she was with the reptiles and their reactions to her handling of them, had hired her on the spot at the end of the day.

He'd been quite nice the whole time, joking with her and taking on any customers that didn't want a pet with a forked tongue and scaly flesh. Sam had even gone so far as to pay her for what she'd done that day, saying that it'd still be taken from her paycheck but to think of it as an advance on it. It wasn't like she'd needed the money, what with her savings account and all, but it was still quite nice of him to do that.

She went to the counter, glad that she'd apparently gotten here before the late afternoon rush or at the start of it anyway. Five in the afternoon was kind of an iffy eating time for most people; generally six to seven was the busiest.

The teen placed her order and, after paying for it and taking the tray from the smiling Moe's worker, went to find a seat. She found a place next to a potted plant that was quiet and started in on her meal.

Because Theo's back was to the door, she didn't at first understand why people perked up and started whispering / talking to each other excitedly or pull out their cameras or camera phones when it dinged as someone opened it. As far as the teen knew it was just another customer.

That is, until she saw a reflection in the dark-tinted windows that made her blink and turn around to see if what she'd seen was actually true.

Yep, right there in the line were two ducks, probably from the local hockey team. Theo blinked, using the back of one hand to rub at her eyes before looking at them again. They were still there, ordering their food.

It wasn't like she hadn't heard of them; far from it given that they were practically one of Anaheim's main selling points to tourists. It was more like when one had to see something to truly believe it. Strange though, she thought that the teenager only came out with more than one of her fellow companions….

With a slight sigh, Theo turned to go back to her meal when something tingled in the back of her neck. She placed a hand there only to find the hairs standing up, which made her frown and glance around the restaurant. Something didn't feel right and she didn't like it.

Whenever she had that feeling, bad stuff always happened and not 'broken bone' bad stuff (though that was sometimes included), but 'major bank heist with several hostages and the robbers have no qualms about killing them' bad stuff. Considering the circumstances that had made it so she even had that feeling in the first place, her slight 'overreaction' could be excused. The blonde teen glanced around in an almost paranoid way, trying to pinpoint where the feeling came from. Strange, it seemed to be both inside and outside, with the outside one coming closer.

The girl turned back to her food, trying to act normal and finish it. If what she thought was going to happen did, then she'd need all of her strength. A sort of nervous energy began to build up inside her, making her feel queasy yet still Theo made herself eat.

Something soft bumped her shoulder, prompting her to look up. Blue eyes met blue and locked on. Theo had the sudden urge to swallow a thick, sticky lump in her throat, but couldn't as she barely felt like she could even breathe at the moment. The avian teen looked the same, even as she and her companion (a dark feathered male) continued on past her to a different table.

As soon as their eyes broke contact, Theo found she was able to act normal again and strangely, felt sort of…calmer in a way. Trying to appear nonchalant, she finished her meal and stood to put the tray away. Not knowing why, the teen glanced over at the pair of ducks, seeing the other girl had glanced back at her as well. Theo at first gave a half smile, not understanding what had happened before, only for it to fall as her eyes seemed to suddenly focus in more on the avian male.

It was like a demented form of 3-d vision. While Theo could clearly see the drake there, it was like she could see into him as well (which was creepy in itself) and that she somehow knew that 'inside' form was actually his real one. She made eye contact with the teenage duck again and gave her head the slightest shake of 'no'.

Strangely, it was like the other understood and glanced back at her companion only to seem to visibly start. They spoke briefly before the teen herself stood up with a shaky smile, making her way to the bathroom. Theo didn't know why she did it, but the human girl went, dumped her trash and put away her tray before going to the bathroom herself.

The avian girl was waiting just inside the entrance, right out of view of the camera. She moved just enough so that Theo could step into the same blind spot, which she did. They stared at each other for barely a few seconds before the avian brought her hand up to slap her.

--

Nosedive thought Duke was acting a little weird, but ignored it for now. He was probably still adjusting to the actual idea of being a 'dad' and some of their fan mail wasn't helping a bit.

As they reached Moe's, it was admittedly strange that he didn't park the bike or get off of it with his usual grace but Nosedive ignored it once again. She was hungry, they were here and besides, Duke did seem nervous.

When they entered the restaurant, there were the typical people who immediately began taking pictures but it'd happened before. They couldn't go through the drive-through on the duck-cycle so they had to eat inside and put up with it.

If she had to name a point where this all felt a little off, then it was in the line when Duke didn't get his typical order. Duke never really ordered that much hot sauce before, not to the point where the employee asked if he was sure about it.

Then, when they were on their way to a table towards the back with some decent amount of privacy given by half walls and plastic plants, Nosedive's hand had accidentally hit a teen's shoulder. She glanced down to apologize, half hoping the person wouldn't ask for an autograph or a picture or anything else.

Her eyes had locked with the human's and the world seemed to just…stop. Something deep in her brain felt like it clicked with something else and strangely, Nosedive felt she could….well, 'sense' her surroundings better was the only way she could describe it and that barely came close.

When Duke had lightly urged her on pass the other blonde teen, it was like….all the colors were just a little brighter, she could smell just a few more scents in the air, and noises were just a little louder and clearer. That was just outside her body.

Inside, it felt like her lungs could take in just a bit more air, her heart was beating just a bit stronger and faster and her mind was working a bit quicker, making just a few more connections and observations than normal.

That was barely scratching the surface of what felt different. The two ducks sat down, Nosedive giving Duke a partial smile and a slightly hurried affirmative mutter when he asked her if everything was okay.

Something was wrong with her….or maybe she was just now becoming aware of something that had been there all along before…Dive didn't know and it was starting to frustrate her. She glanced over at the other girl, only to find her looking back at her.

Dive returned her half-smile with one of her own, only to drop it when the human seemed to pale a little at the sight of Duke. Confused when the human female shook her head 'No', Nosedive looked at her companion, wondering what had made the human girl almost appear freaked out.

Her eyes felt kind of tingly, almost like how they would before tears began to leak out. Nosedive blinked once to get rid of the feeling, only to look at Duke and wish she hadn't.

Before she did that, Dive had only seen Duke. Now, she still saw Duke….with Chameleon sitting right there as well, as if he was inside a half decent hologram.

'Duke' frowned at her and Nosedive wondered if he knew she knew what he was.

"Hey, Nosedive, you okay?"

Dive blinked at him, confused and trying to find an excuse to get away from here. The imposter went on slowly, beginning to look around almost like he was kind of nervous,

"You just jumped like something startled you."

Realizing her right hand was below the table top, Dive quickly came up with an excuse,

"Oh, it's nothing. I think I just touched someone's gum or something under the table. I'm going to go wash my hands, okay?"

'Duke' nodded back at her, only partially believing the small lie. Nosedive gave him a quick smile and left the table for the women's restroom before the shape shifter had a chance to pick holes in it or attempt to stop her.

Once inside, something made her wait in that little space between the door and the majority of the rest of the bathroom where the camera's blind spot was, which she did.

Within a moment, that human girl she'd bumped into earlier came in. Nosedive moved a bit to give her room, which the other took quietly.

They stared at each other for just a few seconds before the human raised her hand as if to hit Dive.

--

Their hands met with a very painful sounding slap that hurt as much as it sounded like it would.

Both teens gave a grimace at the ache, before making eye contact again. If anyone had happened to see them right then, it would have looked like they were about to perform an arm wrestling contest right then and there.

They kept up the pressure, staring straight into each others eyes as they both waited for the other to break and pull her hand away. A sudden surge of energy from their abdomens is what finally made them break apart.

The human girl turned a unique shade of green and dashed into the nearest bathroom stall, where sounds of gagging and eventual vomiting soon drifted out of. The avian girl let herself fall back against the bathroom wall, eyes closing as one hand slid to place itself over her lower abdomen. She groaned as her stomach threatened to empty itself of what little remained from her quick lunch of a croissant and a peach that she'd gotten during her interview.

The sounds the other girl was making weren't really helping, but Nosedive felt she could handle herself better. A sudden thought made her open her eyes, push away from the wall and slowly make her way to the stall the human was in.

The teen inside gave a funny sounding hack noise before spitting, breathing shallowly as she waited to see if her stomach would kick anything else out. Dive leaned her shoulder against the open doorframe, just waiting. Her eyes glanced at the arm the other teen had against the stall wall to brace herself and focused in on the bicep muscle, noting how it didn't seem exactly like what you'd find on a normal teen girl.

Of course, neither were most of Nosedive's own. Thankfully that cursed spring had only robbed her of her correct gender, not her hard earned muscles from years of playing hockey and all that time spent in the camps during the Saurian invasion. Shoving away those nasty memories before she lost herself in them again, Dive took a chance,

"First time huh?"

The human spat into the toilet again before a dry laugh escaped her throat.

"Never felt anything like that before….."

Her voice, which Dive found had an accent to it she hadn't really heard before, almost a kind of drawl, (the 'thing' in 'anything' came out like 'thang') trailed off towards the end, her body shifting slowly so as to look at Dive with confused and measuring eyes. The human glanced up and down her frame once then twice, taking in the muscles, stance, and several other little things.

Blue eyes met blue again. There was a brief silence before the human girl broke the silence this time,

"No way…"

Dive just nodded, feeling relieved as her stomach finally began to settle. The human nodded back slowly, turning back to the toilet to flush it. The avian girl stepped back to get out of her way as the other teen left the stall and headed towards the sink to wash her hands.

After just a second, Nosedive moved to do so as well. That way her story to 'Duke' would only be half false. They were quiet for just a minute before Dive hesitantly asked a question,

"When did you…?"

She cut herself off, not sure how to phrase the rest. To her surprise, the other answered anyway.

"Roughly two months ago, give or take a few days to a week. Really couldn't keep track of time too well at the beginning. (She glanced over at Dive and offered a weak smile that Dive returned with one of her own) I guess you could say I was working through the shock."

Finishing up, the human girl dried her hands off under an air dryer before offering one out to Dive. Recognizing it by now as a common gesture among humans, Dive quickly finished drying her own hands before gripping the other teen's hand. Using reasonable force now, the two girls shook hands.

"Theo McThompson."

"Nosedive Flashblade."

When they let go of each other's hands this time, they both let out small laughs to help dispel any lasting tension. Dive smiled at Theo before dropping it to take on a worried expression instead.

Theo frowned at her before seeming to get the problem,

"Worried about your friend out there?"

Dive snorted,

"He's not my friend, far from it. In fact, one of his 'friends' is the reason I'm like this!"

At the last word, Nosedive motioned sharply at her body with a slight growl. Theo nodded, frowning as she thought.

"So….sneak out?"

Dive smiled at her, mischief on her features.

"What else am I going to do?"

Worry came right back though, making the avian girl bit the inside of her cheek.

"But I've got to get back to that building. I need to find the real Duke and make sure he's okay…"

Theo gave a slow nod, not exactly sure what was going on but it still felt like the right thing to do.

"Anything I can do to help?"

Dive shook her head,

"Not unless you know how to fight Saurians."

"Is that what that lizard thing's called?"

Nosedive just nodded, making her way out of the bathroom. Just her luck something like this would happen today, the one day she was basically trusted outside of the Pond without the whole team around her. The human followed her, keeping a look out for the other girl as well as herself. That feeling was still there and it only served to make her increasingly nervous.

Roughly ten minutes and a lot of luck later, both teens were walking rather quickly down the street. Nosedive would have taken the duck-cycle only 'Duke' had the keys and asking for them would have risen suspicion from the imposter as she'd left nothing on the bike or in one of its compartments to retrieve.

Theo was trying to keep her shoulders from jerking up to hide her neck, glancing behind them occasionally to make sure the way was clear. She hadn't told Dive about the feelings yet nor was she going to unless it was necessary and since both feelings were back at the restaurant, the human girl deemed it unnecessary to tell her new acquaintance.

She glanced back at Dive, just now noticing her weird watch. Nosedive saw her staring at something before looking herself. With a groan, the avian teen slapped herself in the forehead.

"I am so stupid at times."

Letting Theo stand there mystified, Dive hid behind a building corner and activated her comm unit.

"Wildwing, are you there?"

Nosedive had barely finished speaking when her brother's face popped up on the little screen.

"Wildwing here, everything alright Dive?"

"Saurian trouble big bro, Chameleon impersonated Duke and I don't know where the real one is."

Her brother growled not too lightly.

"Where are you?"

Dive looked at Theo, who just shrugged and pointed at a street sign. The avian girl relayed the information to her brother.

"Alright, stay there Dive. I'll come and get you soon."

He cut the link before Nosedive had a chance to protest. With a light growl, she closed her unit and looked back at Theo. Strangely enough, the human had a slightly sad smile on her face.

"That was your brother? I'm guessing older."

Nosedive nodded, wondering what had brought that up. Theo just nodded back and looked away, seeming to get twitchier by the second.

Finally, the other teen had enough, but before she could really ask, Theo blinked at something down the street.

"These Saurians of yours, any of 'em orange?"

Fighting down a giggle at how Theo's accent made 'Saurians' sound like 'Sorry-ians', Dive nodded, hiding herself even more behind the building.

"Siege, next to Dragaunus, he's one of the nastiest."

Theo nodded, moving further down the street, one hand reaching out to grab Dive's arm just above the elbow.

"Uh huh and we're out of here. You can call your brother back from my hotel room."

Nosedive began to protest, only to stop herself and think this somewhat through. Surely Wildwing wouldn't want her anywhere near Siege and if they happened to pass by the magazine building where her interview had taken place, well, hopefully Theo wouldn't mind a little detour…

--

Tiny: (Hidden in some random, dark place) Okay, I'm cutting it off here. Um, check my profile for real life updates, if you want to know what's been going on lately….

Reviews are appreciated.

Mallory: (Opening the kitchen cabinet that is currently TinySprite's refuge) I thought you weren't going to ask for reviews anymore.

Tiny: I'm not asking! I'm just letting the readers know that reviews are appreciated, which they very much are! (Yanks the cabinet door shut before Duke and Wildwing find out about her new hiding spot)


End file.
